


Someone To Belong To

by iprincealii



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abusive Kate Argent, Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Friend Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Beta Derek Hale, Caretaking, Character Death In Dream, Chris Argent Feels, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale Takes Care of Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Derek Hale is Not Emotionally Constipated, Domestic Fluff, Good Chris Argent, Hale Family Feels, Honest Derek Hale, Interrogation, Kate Argent Dies, M/M, Mentioned Paige, Non-Consensual Touching, POV Derek Hale, Panic Attacks, Past Derek Hale/Paige, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Peter Hale Dies, Pre-Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Psychological Torture, Scenting, Scents & Smells, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) Being an Asshole, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf) Being an Idiot, Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski Has a Crush on Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski Takes Care Of Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski is Part of the Pack, Stiles Stilinski's Scent, The Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Torture, Tortured Derek Hale, Virgin Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 12:27:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 28,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21208532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iprincealii/pseuds/iprincealii
Summary: Derek Hale has just lost his sister Laura and returned to Beacon Hills and must figure out who the Alpha is in order to exact his revenge before the Argents kill it first. Along the way he finds himself caught in the affections of Stiles Stilinski and must decide if the danger is worth the reward.





	1. Alpha

**Author's Note:**

> Set across Season 1, I wrote this as kind of a one-shot, but I'm considering writing a follow up. If I do, it will likely be increasingly more canon divergent as time goes on, simply because... well, as much as I loved the show, it needed more Sterek. I also apologize for the duration of some of the chapters as I chose their cut off points for where it felt right to end them, not for how long they were. (They also looked a lot different in what I used to write them).

Derek Hale woke up in the apartment he and his sister had been splitting in Brooklyn with a strangled gasp. He felt this pain in his chest, a familiar one, the one of losing part of your pack and he scrambled for his phone on his nightstand. He nearly fell as he struggled into his clothes and tried calling her repeatedly with no success, getting her voicemail every time.

_ ‘This is Laura, you know what to do. -BEEP-’ _

“Laura, its Derek, please fucking answer your God damn phone, okay? I felt… _ answer your fucking phone!” _ He left after he’d dressed, throwing his already mostly packed duffle bag onto his bed and throwing in the rest of what he’d need. As he stepped into the bathroom though, he caught his reflection in the mirror and looked at his eyes. He was scared to look. He didn’t want to look and find that he was alone, that he was without anyone except for an uncle he couldn’t even talk to. He closed his eyes, furrowing his brow.

_ 1… _

_ 2… _

_ 3… _

He opened his eyes slowly after he’d shifted them and he stared at his reflection, confusion settling over him. The familiar bright blue glowed back at him and he swallowed, realizing what must have happened. Laura wasn’t the one who was gone. He shifted his eyes back as he closed them again and finished packing, locking up their apartment and getting on the next flight to San Diego.

Hours later he was in Beacon Hills and the first place he went was to the hospital. He expected to find Laura and an empty bed. He expected to find grief and need to console and be strong. What he didn’t expect to see was a nurse adjusting the blanket over his uncle, in the same condition they’d left him in, in the same spot, in the same hell.

“Oh, hello. Visiting hours are almost over…”

“I’m his nephew,” Derek said quietly, though he wasn’t sure why those were the words that left his mouth. The nurse nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile.

“I’ll give you two some privacy. His niece was in her a few days ago. Your sister?”

“Yeah,” Derek nodded, walking over to his uncle’s bedside and taking his hand. The nurse shut the door softly behind him and Derek glanced behind him before he brought his other hand to his uncle’s and started siphoning his pain, his uncle’s breathing relaxing. He let it lower itself back down when the color of Peter's eyes changed to red and he kept taking his pain for as long as he could stand it. “I don’t know if… you can hear me, but Laura’s gone.”

Derek sniffed, wiping at his eyes, trying to hold it together and failing as he broke down sobbing. He knelt next to his uncle’s bed and held his hand, staying there until a soft knock came at the door and he quickly made himself stand, keeping his back to the door and wiping at his face.

“Visiting hours are over…”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ll be out in just a sec.” Derek said, clearing his throat. He sniffed, quickly leaving the hospital and following Laura’s scent as best he could. It was faint, old, faded, but he needed to find where she went. He needed to know who killed her, where her body was. He stopped at a gas station after getting a rental car, buying a bottle of water and a pack of cigarettes and when he looked over as he was waiting for the cashier that’s when he saw it.

A newspaper with the headline, ‘HALF-BODY FOUND ON LOCAL WILDLIFE PRESERVE.’ He grabbed the paper and slammed it on the counter, the cashier jumping slightly, but adding that to his total. He read all of the article in the rental and that’s when he knew where he had to go.

He had to go home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be times where the writing contradicts itself. No, these are not incorrect. These are simply instances where Derek assumes the wrong thing.


	2. Burial

Derek kept his foot down on the gas pedal all the way out of town, the sight of his sister’s car greeting him first. The familiar black Camaro looked undamaged and there wasn’t any sign of whatever had happened to her at their family's old home, so whatever had happened didn’t happen there. He got out and looked into the car, finding her clothes, keys, and another news article clipped out of a paper. It was the one that had brought her there, the spiral someone had carved on a deer. Their kind’s symbol for revenge. He could smell wolf, two of them and he furrowed his brow.

_ ‘Must be the Alpha she was after.’ _ Derek thought, scenting and following her much stronger trail through the preserve. He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, finding what he was looking for in the brightness of the afternoon sun. He smelled her before he saw her, Laura’s body torn in half and discarded like she was nothing, staring blankly ahead and half-covered in dirt and leaves. Derek threw up, unable to help it, sitting against a tree nearby and covering his mouth with his hands and shaking.

He didn’t know how long he sat there before moving and picking up what was left of her in his coat and bringing it back to the house. He didn’t know how long it took to find the local flower shop that had wolfsbane, to buy the shovel, the burlap sack and get back to the house. He didn’t know how long it took to dig the grave, to transfer what remained of Laura and his coat into the burlap and place her carefully and lovingly into the bottom. He knew the sun had gone down and the moon was up. He watched as, after he planted the last bit of wolfsbane, her body shifted into her wolf form and he dropped back into the grave to seal her within the burlap before climbing back out. She was born a wolf… she’d be buried as one.

He fell into a pattern as he shoveled the dirt into her grave, listening to the sound it made as it was moved from the pile, falling through the air, hitting the sack, and eventually just hitting itself and making layers until the grave was filled again. He heard an Alpha’s howl and he knew it was out, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He put the shovel into the back of the Camaro and took the keys and all of Laura’s things she’d left on the seat, locking it. Delivering the rental car back to the delivery place this late wasn’t going to be possible, so he drove it into town and parked across the street with it, and fell asleep in the driver’s seat.


	3. Inhaler

The rental employee stared at him with raised eyebrows as he returned the car, the fact that he was covered in dirt and smelled horrible completely unphased Derek. He’d changed clothes, sure, but he hadn’t showered. He checked into a hotel briefly and did that, buying a new coat and running back to the preserve, but slowing once he got there and searching for the fresh trail the Alpha had to have laid from last night. It was hard to track, the Alpha seeming to have gone all over the preserve, but what concerned him was the scent of human that he was getting.

Somewhere along the way he found an inhaler and he picked it up, putting it into his pocket, figuring it was either a clue or trash and either way it didn’t belong on the ground. Eventually he heard talking and he followed the voices to two others who were searching the ground, clearly looking for something. The skinny one with a buzzcut and moles and freckles that seemed to go on forever saw him first, stopping his other friend who was most definitely not human.

“What are you doing here?” Derek asked them, looking at the werewolf. “This is private property.”

“Uh… y’see, my friend and I were hiking out here yesterday and we got lost and he fell, and we didn’t realize it but he lost his inhaler and he really needs that back. So, we were looking for that.” The skinny one said, looking between Derek and his friend and the way they hadn’t taken their eyes off of each other since Derek had smelled that the one with the crooked jaw wasn’t human. “You uh… wouldn’t… happen to have… seen one… would you?”

Derek took the inhaler from his pocket and chucked it directly at the werewolf who caught it on reflex, seeming surprised, but Derek wasn’t. He walked closer, looking between them. “You shouldn’t be out here. It gets dangerous in these woods. Especially at night.”

“Y-yeah, we just came for the inhaler,” the werewolf said, looking at him even as his friend was tugging him away. 

_ “Dude, that was Derek Hale!” _

Derek heard the human say before they’d gotten too far away and he rolled his eyes, tuning out of their conversation and heading back on his path to Laura’s car. He’d gotten the human and the freshly Bitten wolf’s scent, and they knew who Derek was. Derek could find the new ‘wolf, and find out who they both were easily. There was only one school in the area and even in a sea of that many students it would be easy.


	4. Red

It was as easy as he thought it would be, but what he hadn’t expected was to have to keep the kid from killing someone the first night. He’d learned their names, Scott McCall - the formerly severely asthmatic werewolf. Stiles Stilinski - the son of the sheriff, a man Derek hadn’t seen in six years. Not since the fire. Not since Kate.

He kept an eye on Scott all day and followed him to a party, knowing at some point, with this being his first true night as a Bitten wolf, something was going to go wrong. Sure enough, mid-dance with his date Scott starts to lose his grip and Derek steps in, approaching his date. “Hi, um… sorry, I’m supposed to give you a ride home.” He gave her a smile, trying to reassure her since he could smell her nervousness and apprehension. “I’m Derek Hale, I’m a friend of Scott’s.”

He got her home safe and sound, making sure that the temperature was comfortable enough in the car for her to take her jacket off and distracting her with questions about the architecture of her house a little, earning the reward of her jacket being forgotten in his car when she got out. He went home to the preserve, knowing Scott would come looking for him, hanging Allison’s coat up on a tree and waiting.

Scott came crashing through the forest, predictably not much later. He yelled the question of, “where is she,” hen he saw his date’s coat, but Derek heard something else quickly approaching.

“Safe from you…” He whispered, listening. Scott’s eyes started to glow in the night and Derek had no choice but to grab him and pin him down at the base of a tree, clamping a hand over Scott’s mouth, shushing him and looking around. He heard the sound of bowstrings being drawn and his eyes widened. “God damn it.  _ Run! _ ” He told him and pushed him back towards Beacon Hills and safety, shifting and turning turning toward the danger, roaring at the hunters.

He saw two and grabbed them, throwing them back. A third one shot a flash-grenade arrow against a tree and he had to shield his eyes. Derek turned to run, seeing Scott pinned.  _ Fuck. _ He ran toward Scott and grabbed his arm, breaking the arrow and pulling his arm free and keeping a hand on it as he lead Scott through the forest as quickly as he could. He didn’t stop until he was sure they weren’t being followed, slowing down and even still, he listened and paced as he kept watch.

“What the hell was that?”

“Hunters.” Derek said simply. “The kind that have been after people like you and me for centuries.”

“Then why the hell did you do this to me?” Scott asked angrily, glaring at him. Derek stopped pacing and furrowed his brow at him. 

“ _ I _ didn’t.” Derek told him. “I can’t turn people into one of us.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Scott asked, suddenly confused. Derek turned and sighed through his nose, shifting his eyes.

“What color were the eyes you saw, Scott?”

“...red.”

“Exactly.” Derek said and shifted his eyes back. He stared down at him, shaking his head. “I don’t have the power to have done this to you, but the Bite is a gift, Scott. People would kill for what you have now. Advanced healing, hearing, sight, strength, speed, reflexes. I’m sure you’ve already noticed you haven’t used your inhaler at all since you got Bitten, but you have no control over your shift and if you want it? You’re going to need me.” He offered Scott his hand and Scott took it so he could stand up from where he’d sat down on the ground. His eyebrows were furrowed still at Derek, but he seemed significantly less pissed and distrustful. 

“You and me are going to be spending a lot of time together now, Scott.” Derek told him and gave him one of his old business cards from his wallet that had his cell phone number on it. “You have any problems, call. Don’t wait until you start losing control of yourself, you feel wrong like you did tonight, get as far away from anyone you can hurt and you call me, but… more than likely, I’m going to be watching you to make sure you don’t kill anyone.”

Scott took the card, looking down at it as Derek started walking away. “Whoa, hey, wait. I-I got questions, man.” He said, starting to walk after him, but only for a few steps.

  
“You have school tomorrow and I need sleep. Go home, Scott.” Derek said as he kept walking, heading back toward his childhood home. He wasn’t sure if it was actually safe staying there, but it  _ felt _ like it would be, and that had to be enough.


	5. Trust

The following day is uneventful for Scott, from what Derek sees and he’s fairly pleased, at least until the end of the day and it gets to lacrosse practise. His anger at Scott only further increasing the longer time passes without a single text or a call from him. So, with seemingly no choice, he breaks into Scott’s house and waits. He’s on a Skype call with his friend Stiles when there’s finally a chance to talk to him and he steps out of the darkness into the light of Scott’s computer screen, Stiles being the one to notice him.

“Uh… dude, there’s someone behind you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, really.” Stiles said, and Scott turned finally, nearly falling out of his seat when he saw Derek.

“If you had any control over your abilities, you’d have noticed I was here when you had gotten home.” Derek said raising his eyebrows. “Goodbye, Stiles.” He added, looking over at the webcam.

“Yep, point taken loud and clear.” Stiles said and the disconnection sound chimed through Scott’s computer and he muttered ‘shit’ before turning in his chair to look back at Derek again.

“You know why I’m here.” Derek crossed his arms.

“Yeah, look, it was an accident, I-”

“Your  _ accident _ dislocated a kid’s shoulder in front of a bunch of other people today and from what I heard in the locker room right after, you nearly killed your best friend.” Derek said angrily, keeping his ears trained on Scott’s mom so he didn’t get her attention. “I told you that you have no control and what’s worse is that you’re getting attention from it. If you shift on the field at that game tomorrow, and reveal to the world that we exist, I will kill you.”

Scott looked up from the floor at Derek, shocked and definitely scared. “Y-yeah, okay. I won’t play.”

“Good.” Derek said, not hearing a lie in Scott’s words. “Glad we have an understanding.” He went over to Scott’s bedroom window and opened it, climbing out and leaving it open behind himself as he headed back home. He saw Allison’s jacket still hanging from the tree where he’d left it and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He took the time to return it via her locker, mostly because if the hunters saw it he’d just be broadcasting that he was staying nearby, or some other message that he didn’t want to send.

He regretted that decision the next afternoon when Scott showed up at his house, pissed about it. “Look, just leave her alone, okay? She doesn’t know anything about this.” Scott finally told him and Derek shook his head.

“You don’t know if she does or not.” Derek said, knowing all too well what an Argent was capable of and what their family did. “I’m just trying to look out for your Scott.” Scott storms off without saying anything to that and Derek runs his hands over his face, looking over at Laura’s grave.  _ ‘I’m a fucking Beta playing the role of an Alpha to a kid who doesn’t even want to be a werewolf.’ _

Derek furrowed his brow and shut his eyes tight, looking away as he stood. He went inside and slept with his face buried against one of the shirts she’d had packed into her duffle in the trunk of the Camaro. He dreamed he was laying next to her like he did right after they fire and they first got to New York, talking to her about nothing, just having her to listen to him. He woke to the sound of tires on the gravel driveway and the chatter of a police radio. He got up from the couch and stepped out onto the porch and looked at the cop cars trapping him, and John Stilinski looked up at him from the bottom of the porch steps. “John.” He said, confusion and disappointment in the sheriff’s scent.

“Derek,” John said and looked over at the unburied grave for a long moment, Derek doing the same before they looked back at each other. “You wanna make this easy on yourself and just tell me why you did it?” Derek heard a twig snap and looked up a little, seeing Stiles duck his head behind a log a little bit off in the distance. ‘ _ Fucking Scott.’ _

“I have the right to remain silent.” Derek said softly, sliding his eyes back over to John’s face.

“That you do.” John’s disappointment grew and he stepped up the porch as Derek turned around and put his hands behind his back for him. “That you do.” He brought Derek over to his squad car and helped him into the back.

“John,” Derek looked over at him. “Can you answer me one question?” John looked down at him, debating for a moment.

“What is it?”

“What are you charging me with?”

“The murder of Laura Hale.” John said and shut the door. Derek relaxed, bowing his head. At least, idiots that Scott and Stiles were, they’d messed up the wolfsbane and hadn’t left Laura shifted in her grave for the police to find. He closed his eyes, waiting for John to come back, to take him to the station so he could be interrogated. The passenger side door in the front opened first though and Stiles got in, looking back at him. Derek raised his eyebrows, wondering just what in the hell he could possibly want more than what he and Scott had already gotten.

“So, you’re a little tied up and can’t really hurt me and I’m not really afraid of you anyway,” Stiles began. Derek quirked an eyebrow at that, the fear coming off of Stiles strong from inside the cruiser and he could hear the teenager’s heart rabbiting inside his chest. “Okay, maybe that’s a lie, but what I want to know is… why was the girl in the grave different?” Derek straightened up, leveling his gaze at Stiles, who pressed on. “Why could she turn into a complete wolf, I mean, can  _ you _ do that? Can Scott?”

“...I think you should be more worried about Scott shifting and killing someone at the lacrosse game. Maybe even you.” Derek told him.

“That wasn’t an answer.” Stiles shot back and Derek huffed a breath through his nose, staring Stiles down.

“Why should I tell you anything? You’re having me arrested for murdering her.”

“Because you did?” Stiles said, dragging out each syllable and a little baffled. Derek leaned forward, Stiles leaning back slightly.

“Don’t be an idiot like Scott, Stiles. You’ve helped him piece together most of this, I’ve been watching him too much to not see it.” Derek searched Stiles’ face. “So, I’ll tell you this because maybe you’ll actually listen. The girl in the grave? Her name is Laura Hale. She was my sister and my Alpha. And whatever Alpha bit Scott is the one who lured her here, ripped her in half, and left her in the woods to die alone while I was back in Brooklyn, wondering whether it was her or my uncle that just died.” Stiles’ expression softened as Derek spoke, his lips parting and he took a small breath. 

“I-I didn’t - I’m - We…”

“Scott’s pissed because he’s refusing to accept the gift he’s been given because he won’t let me teach him to control it and he’s letting it control him.  _ So _ , he’s being irrationally territorial of a girl he thinks he’s in love with, but that way she gets his heart racing, activates his shift. Playing lacrosse? Shift. Full moon? Shift. If he doesn’t learn to control and anchor himself he  _ will _ hurt or kill someone eventually, Stiles, and I pray to fucking God he learns. So talk to him, make him listen to you, because he clearly doesn’t fucking want to listen to me.” Derek said, finishing right as the passenger door opened up and John reached in and strong armed Stiles out of his cruiser and shut the door.

Derek kicked forward in frustration, denting the metal panel in front of him. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes and resting back, giving in to the fact that he should have listened to his instincts the week before. He shouldn’t have let Laura come back home, not alone, or even at all. They should have stayed in Brooklyn, stayed safe, stayed alive. John getting into the cruiser took him out of his spiral and he opened his eyes again.

“My kid say anything to you?”

“He wanted to know why I was so fucked in the head.” Derek lied, earning a frown from John. They didn’t speak the rest of the drive to the station and Derek preferred it that way, staring out the window. It didn’t take long for them to go through the Camaro and find more evidence against him, but eventually they also found the plane ticket, the confirmation on video of him boarding and disembarking his flight from Brooklyn to San Diego, the bus he took to Beacon Hills, the car rental he’d had, the hotel… everything proving that he wasn’t even in the state whenever Laura was killed. Only that he buried her, which John refused to charge him for.

“I’m sorry, Derek, I…” John said as he turned to face Derek outside the station, feeling guilty about everything.

“You were just doing your job, John. Following the evidence.” Derek said softly, offering him his hand to shake. John looked at his face before shaking his hand and nodding.

“Good luck, kid, and stay out of trouble. I mean it.” John told him, concern adding to his guilt. Derek nodded, starting once again, the long walk back to the preserve and home.


	6. 48 Hours

Derek did nothing after he got out of jail except hunt the alpha down, leaving Scott to fend for himself. He had told Stiles what he could, it was up to them to do with the information what they could and try to survive. He doesn’t have much luck until the following night, chasing it through downtown Beacon Hills and trying desperately hard to keep up. As a Beta, without a truly alive Alpha, he was weak. And even if his uncle were conscious, he would have issues keeping up with an Alpha when they were in their full shift like this.

He followed it across some rooftops when he heard a gunshot and he wouldn’t have been that concerned, given the area, but the bullet hit him and he went down. He clamped his jaw shut, trying to not reveal where he went down. The rooftop he landed on was far enough down though that when his back hit, it stole the air from his lungs and he felt one of his ribs break and he took a few moments before gasping hard.

He panted quickly and shallow, rolling onto his side and eventually to his knees. His rib healed, but slower than normal and he looked at his arm as he took his jacket off and swore, seeing the blue just barely there, but it was already spreading. He needed help, he needed whatever wolfsbane this was and he needed it fast or he was going to die and he knew that all too well. He had only a little over two days to get it and he had been on foot after the Alpha for too long. 

He reached into his coat for his phone and set a timer before he put it back, looking for a way down and not finding an easy one. He glared at the brick and shifted out his claws, grabbing onto the ledge and climbing over holding on and lowering himself down until he was just hanging on until he could start free climbing his way down, which was more accurately him punching his claws through the brick until he was on the street. He was even more tired by then and he aimed himself for the high school, going for the where only ally he felt he had in all of Beacon Hills would be by the time he reached it.

By the time he got to Beacon Hills High, it was the start of the school day and he waited until class change to walk in unnoticed. He looked until he found someone he recognized, one of the people on the lacrosse team. Jackson, the one Scott dislocated the shoulder of. “Jackson. I need to know where Stiles is.” Derek said as he walked up, Jackson eyeing him up and down and making a snorting laugh.

“Do I know you?” Jackson asked, raising his eyebrows. He looked Derek over, seeing the condition he was in. “You look like shit.”

“Do you know where he is or not?” Derek asked, grabbing Jackson by the back of the neck and moving him against the lockers. He was not in the mood to fuck around and didn’t have enough time.

“Not at this exact moment, but I could find out for you, if um… you have anything on you.”

“Like what?” Derek asked, assuming money. All he had was plastic.

“What… y-y’know.” Jackson said, glancing around. Talking a bit quieter, leaning in slightly. “Juice.”

“What?” Derek asked, letting Jackson go and completely confused as to why the fuck this kid wanted juice, or why he was being secretive about it.

“ _ Juice _ .” Jackson repeated, as if saying it again would help. He rolled his eyes after a second. “Steroids?”

“Fuck, I’ll find him myself. Have fun when you get suspended, roid rage.” Derek snapped, stepping around Jackson and heading off. He searched class after class, ending up starting to ask anyone that passed until his energy started flagging and eventually the final bell rang and everyone was leaving. He knew what Stiles’ Jeep looked like so he aimed himself for the parking lot and looked for the sky blue Jeep or Stiles anywhere. He found the Jeep and Stiles at the same time, ending up stepping out in front of his Jeep just as he’d backed up and was about to drive off. Derek raised his good arm as Stiles pulled forward and looked up just in time to notice him and actually stop. 

“Holy shit,” Stiles said as Derek’s knees buckled and he collapsed onto them in front of the Jeep. Derek’s eyes hurt as they shifted back and forth uncontrollably before settling on blue, making him keep his eyes closed as Scott came over to him and Stiles got out of his Jeep and came to see what was going on.

“Whoa, you.. Look like shit, man,” Scott said helpfully.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, more helpfully.

“Wolfsbane.” Derek said and looked up at them and Scot quickly moved closer.

“Dude,  _ put those away! _ ” Scott hissed.

“ _ I can’t, _ ” Derek said angrily between his teeth, shutting his eyes.

“Let’s get him into the Jeep,” Stiles said and put Derek’s left arm over his shoulder, unfortunately his bad one, earning a loud grunt of pain. “Sorry.” Scott got his other side and they helped him into the Jeep and Derek grabbed Scott’s arm before he could step too far away.

“Go... to the Argent’s. That’s where you’ll find another one of the bullets that shot me. I need one.” Derek told him as Stiles went around to get back into the driver’s seat.

“How do you know?”

“Just  _ trust _ me for fucking once. That’s where you’ll find it.” Derek said in exasperation, letting his arm drop and sighing heavily. “If I don’t get it within the next forty-eight hours… I’m going to die.” Scott swallowed and nodded.

“Alright, I-I’ll go find it.” Scott said and looked at Stiles.

“Good luck.” Stiles said as Scott shut Derek’s door so they could drive off. Stiles glanced over at him and Derek looked over.

“Where are you going to take me?” Derek asked.

“I…  _ You _ don’t have somewhere for me to take you?” Stiles asked, glancing over at him again. Derek exhaled sharply, grimacing and resting his head back for a moment. “Oh man,  _ please _ don’t die in my Jeep.”

“Vet clinic. They’ll have what we need if… if Scott can’t get what I need. ” Derek said after he’d thought about it for a few minutes, Stiles nodding.

“Okay, I can do that. Right. Vet clinic. Taking a dying werewolf to the vet. Cause that’s totally a thing normal people do.” Stiles said quietly to himself. Derek reached over, putting his hand on Stiles’ arm, making him go quiet and still.

“One step… at a time.” Derek looked over at him, swallowing dryly. “You can drive to the clinic. That’s one simple step. That’s all you… gotta do right now. Is… drive to the… clinic…”

“Derek?” Stiles asked as Derek’s vision started to swim and all he remembered after that was waking up being half-carried/half-dragged into the veterinary clinic by Stiles. He took a second to remember his feet worked and he reached up and patted Stiles’ arm.

“‘M awake…” Derek said softly, Stiles easing him down and coming to crouch by his side.

“Thank God, I thought you fucking died when you passed out back there.” Stiles told him, reeking of fear and worry. Derek hadn’t been able to properly scent in a while so the smell was almost overwhelming. He turned his head and onto his side, throwing up bright blue, coughing and gasping slightly after. “Jesus, Derek… Are you even going to make it until Scott can get that damn bullet?”

“Don’t h-have to.” Derek tried to help Stiles get him to his feet as best he could and went with him into an operating room. Stiles got him to the examination table, but Derek kept going to look around in the drawers and cabinets.

“What do you mean?” Stiles asked not sure if he liked the sound of that. “And what are you looking for?” Derek ignored him until he found it, bringing it over to the exam table and setting it down a bit harder than he’d meant, Stiles staring at it with wide eyes. “Um… the fuck is that for?” He asked, pointing at the electric saw Derek still had his hand on.

“If Scott doesn’t find that bullet, then you’re going to have to cut off my arm.”


	7. Compassion

Stiles stared at the saw, definitely not wanting to have heard him correctly, but also certain that he had and completely questioning his life choices up to that point. “I’m sorry, what? I think you must have temporarily went insane for a second there, because it sounded like you said  _ I might have to cut off your arm. _ ” Derek exhaled heavily as he peeled himself out of his leather jacket.

“The bullet had wolfsbane in it and I don’t know what kind, but it doesn’t really matter.” He said and carefully stripped off his shirt, revealing how far the poison had reached. “Its pumping through my veins, spreading through my system and the second it reaches my heart… I’m dead.” Stiles nodded slowly, swallowing hard. “I need you to hold my arm down.”

“Why?” Stiles asked even as he moved forward and put his hands on Derek’s arm, pressing it down on to the exam table firmly.

“The bullet’s still in there. I need to get it out.” Derek explained, lifting his other hand. His claws were already out and wouldn’t shift back so he took a couple steadying breaths and clenched his jaw as he dug into the wound. Stiles squeezed his eyes shut and looked away, unable to watch. Derek let out sharp, heavy breaths from between his teeth as he probed into his arm for the bullet, finally finding it and pulling it out, dropping it on the exam table with a flat metallic  _ clack _ .

“I cannot believe you just did that,” Stiles shook his head in disbelief. Derek looked over at him and nodded his head towards the chair that was in the corner. Stiles looked where he was gesturing and helped Derek over to it where he pretty much just fell into it. Stiles had to move quickly to prevent Derek from just continuing to fall straight onto the floor, putting an arm around his waist and ending up with their faces extremely close when Derek was upright again. He lingered for a second before pulling away quickly.

“Call Scott and check… in with him.” Derek said quietly and Stiles nodded, getting out his phone and calling Scott, pacing and biting at his thumbnail, rubbing at the back of his neck, tapping his fingers against his leg, fidgeting in some way, shape, or form from his anxiety over the situation.

“Scott, did you find it?” Stiles said as soon as Scott answered his phone. “ _ Fuck. _ Well, keep trying.” He worried his lower lip with his teeth, glancing over at Derek. “Not fucking great. You need to hurry. I don’t…” Stiles lowered his voice, but Derek’s hearing wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t hear him. “I don’t know if he’s actually got as much time as he says he does and I’m freakin’ the fucking out, okay?” Stiles got off the phone not long after that and put it back into his pocket going through the cabinets and finding a cloth and a bowl they used for… something, and filling it with hot water before bringing it over.

“Was he even close, at least?” 

“I don’t know… I hope so.” Stiles shook his head, setting the bowl on the nearby cart and refolding the cloth, getting it wet and wringing it out. Stiles stepped back over to him and cupped his chin in his empty hand, tilting Derek’s head back and pressing the cloth against it. It felt nice and Derek closed his eyes for a long moment having trouble opening them back up to look at Stiles. Stiles’ was still terrified and Derek searched his eyes for an answer to the question that he ended up just asking anyway.

“Why are you being so kind to me?” Derek asked softly. Stiles looked at his still shifted-blue eyes for a moment, Derek smelling him get sad.

“Scott’s wrong about you.” Stiles shook his head, swallowing and adjusting his hand on the cloth against his forehead. “I was wrong about you and I think… I figured out what happened to your family, I just don’t know which one of them did it, or why. It doesn’t really matter though, its still fucked up and one of them shot you and you’re dying and you still haven’t found the Alpha that killed your sister and bit Scott, and it - its not fair.” He wiped the back of his other hand against his cheek and cleared away some tears that had fallen and Derek swallowed. He wondered… if he  _ was _ dying, maybe someone out there should know the truth. He let out a heavy sigh and wet his lips before he started talking.

“When I was sixteen, my second semester of that school year, I met Kate Argent.” Derek looked up at the ceiling, feeling Stiles’ eyes lock onto him, but it was easier to talk while he wasn’t looking back at him. “I’d stayed after school to swim. I was on the team, I wanted the extra practice and coach didn’t mind. I always locked up, had good grades, did great for the team. One night, I felt someone watching me and it was her. She claimed to be a sub for a younger grade who noticed the lights on.”

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. “I was in a really bad place in my head from something over the winter break and… she made me feel normal again, and she seemed like she cared about me. She asked about my family, how I grew up, where, anything, everything. She always focused on me and I needed that then.” He opened his eyes back up, glazed over. “Then one day, Laura and I feel our bonds break and we’re trying to hold it together because we just want to go home, but... Your dad’s there and a deputy and… they tell us there’s been a fire and everyone’s gone, but my uncle Peter’s made it and he’s in critical condition in the ICU.”

“There were… fourteen people in the house when Kate set that fire. My mom and dad, my younger sister Cora, my little brother Brandon. My uncle’s wife and his daughter Heather…” Derek trailed, reaching up and wiping his eyes. “He got home while it was burning and he went in to try and save them, but he was too late. We went back eventually and I could smell her, I knew her scent and I knew that if...” He sniffed, letting out a shaky breath. “I knew that I’d gotten them killed.”

“That’s not true,” Stiles said with a strained voice and Derek looked over, seeing that he was trying very hard to keep it together. “Kate did that to you, to your family. She manipulated you, it wasn’t… you were  _ abused _ .” He sounded disgusted and his face was twisted into an expression of contempt and anger. Derek furrowed his brow, watching Stiles, who’d been fully ready to lock him up and throw away the key a few days ago, break down over what Kate had done to his family, through him.

They both jumped when Stiles’ phone rang and Stiles swore repeatedly, moving away and wiping his face, trying to compose himself before he answered his phone. “Hello?” He answered and his shoulders sagged in relief. “Fantastic, get here as fast as you can, Scott, okay?” He hung up a moment later and put his phone back into his pocket and went back over to Derek, taking the cloth away and getting it warm in the bowl of hot water and wringing it out again before placing it back. “Scott’s on his way, he’s got it. He got the bullet… I mean, the only one he could find, so its gotta be the one, or… or we take off your arm.”

“Right,” Derek agreed, reaching for Stiles’ arm. “Thank you… I didn’t - I never even told Laura that.” Stiles blinked in surprise, taking Derek’s hand from his arm and holding it between both of his, rubbing it and trying to warm it.

“Try to get some rest. I’ll wake you up when Scott gets here with the bullet.” Stiles said softly. Derek nodded slightly, slowly, letting go of trying to stay conscious and watching Stiles double as his eyes unfocused before his eyelids closed.


	8. Poisoned

Derek woke up to Stiles’ voice calling his name. Loudly. “ _ Derek! _ ” He jumped at the sound, and felt hands shaking him, looking to see Stiles and Scott on either side of him. “Its getting harder to wake you up, we need to do this now.” 

“Yeah, help me up.” Derek said and Scott and Stiles helped him to his feet and over to the exam table. “Where is it?”

“Oh, right,” Scott got the bullet out of his pocket, promptly fumbling it and trying to grab it, but it was out of his reach. They all watched as it arced through the air and landed on the floor, rolling in a crescent into the horizontal slit of a floor drain.

“Are you fucking kidding me, right now?” Derek slowly looked over at Scott.

“I’ll get it, I swear, I’m so fucking sorry,” Scott scrambled over to the drain, trying to get to the bullet. Derek ran his hand down his face, feeling dizzy. He shook his head trying to clear it, only making it worse and stumbling back.

“Whoa, hey, Derek, stay with me,” Stiles said and put his arm around Derek’s waist to keep him from going too much farther back. “Don’t know exactly what to do once we get the bullet out of the drain, here.”

“You separate the… casing and…” Derek trailed, knocking Stiles down with him as he fell backwards when he passed out. Derek woke this time to sudden pain in his jaw and Stiles kneeling over him, his hand clenched into a fist and seemingly ready to strike him… again? “Stiles…?”

“Don’t  _ ever _ do that to me again,” Stiles said and he and Scott helped Derek to his feet, Scott placing the bullet in front of him. “Okay, bullet from the casing, now what?”

“This…” Derek said and dug into his pants pocket, getting out his lighter and setting it on the exam table, he picked up the bullet and held it between his fingers over the table, the contents falling onto the surface when he squeezed it and cracked the outer metal holding it in place. He tossed the bullet fragments aside and picked up his lighter next, flicking the flame to life and igniting the gunpowder and wolfsbane combination and letting it burn until blue smoke wafted up from it. He pinched as much off the table as he could and pressed it into the wound, white hot pain flaring up immediately and making him drop. 

“Derek!” Stiles caught his head before it could hit the floor and cradled it as best he could. Derek tried to curl up, arch away from the pain, anything but he just had to ride it out and after a minute or so it was over and he lay breathing quick and shallow, but healing again.

“We gotta get him out of here.”

“Where the fuck to?” Stiles asked, looking up at Scott, shaking his head before shrugging his shoulders. “Is his house even safe?”

“Stiles… just take me home,” Derek told him and looked up at him, nodding. “Its okay.” He tried to reassure him. “I’ll be okay.” Stiles swallowed hard as he looked down at Derek and closed his eyes briefly before he gave in.

“Help me get him into my Jeep.” Stiles said to Scott, who accepted Derek’s outstretched good arm and pulled Derek to his feet while Stiles made sure Derek didn’t just fall backward again once he was standing. Derek put his arm around Stiles’ shoulders when he felt his arm around his waist, relying on him less and less to walk out to the Jeep, Scott cleaning up and getting Derek’s shirt and jacket and closing the place clinic up behind them again.

Once Derek was seated in the passenger seat of the Jeep, Scott handed his things to him and Derek carefully got back into his shirt, looking over at him. “I gave you the warning about Allison because of the people in her family like Kate. The hunters in her family like Kate. Her dad’s a hunter too, her grandfather, her mother. Her whole family. Whether she knows yet or not, it doesn’t matter. An Argent killed my family, so listen to my heart when I say this.” He paused to give Scott a second to focus. “You can love her, but at the end of the day, when she finds out what you are… Do you trust her family not to come after yours?”

Scott blinked, his eyes widening in surprise and Stiles started his Jeep, backing away from the vet clinic and leaving Scott to get himself home.


	9. Scent

Stiles drove Derek to the preserve and to his house and when they got there, Derek got out and started making his way inside. Stiles shut off the engine to the Jeep and got out too, making him pause on the porch, turning to see him following. “Stiles, I’m fine. Go.”

“No, no no no. You’re not getting away that easy, not this time.” Stiles said unhappily and Derek could almost swear he looked offended. “After all of that, I have questions and you have answers. I may feel bad for you, but if  _ that’s _ how you want to play what just happened between us back there, then this is how I’m gonna be.” Derek furrowed his eyebrows at Stiles, confused for not the first time since he’d come to him for help at how he was acting towards him. “Jesus, have you not been getting any wolfy signals the last twelve hours? Think, Derek.”

“I haven’t been able to control my abilities at will since before we left the school.” Derek told him, annoyed. “Hearing, scent, being able to control my shift… If there was something I was supposed to notice, I’m sorry, but I got nothing.” 

Stiles sighed as he strode closer, looking up at him with zero intention of leaving. ”Keep thinking, you can ask questions. Its not like this is some sort of closed book test.” Derek rolled his eyes slightly at him and crossed his arms moving to stand further down the porch and lean against the house. Stiles followed, leaning his back against the railing across from him.

“Okay, why were you sad?”

“What... why was I sad? Are you kidding me?” Stiles asked, with a sharp laugh, raising his eyebrows. He scratched at his temple and exhaled heavily, tapping his fingers against his leg before putting his hands into his hoodie pocket and bouncing his right leg instead. “Why would  _ anyone _ be sad that someone else is dying? There’s generally only one answer to that question and I know you’re not that oblivious, and I really hate this guessing game shit, but you have been a closed book about a lot of shit for Scott since day one and-”

“Like what?” Derek asked, furrowing his brow, snapping at him. “I haven’t hidden anything from him that wasn’t important for him to know. I told him that I wasn’t the Alpha that bit him the night that he got attacked by hunters and that he needed my help if he was going to be able to control his shift. I told him I would be watching, that I would be there if he called. I gave him my card, a way to contact me. The next day he dislocated Jackson’s shoulder and almost killed you right after. He never called, never texted. That’s why I showed up in his room that night. You remember the Skype call?”

Stiles lowered his gaze a little, nodding. “Yeah, I remember.”

“That night I told him not to play in the game, because I knew he could hurt someone worse than a dislocated shoulder. That he could kill someone, and if he did it in front of everyone? He wouldn’t have to worry about the hunters killing him, because  _ I’d _ fucking do it.” Derek said angrily. Stiles furrowed his brow and opened his mouth, but Derek kept going. “No, its not an overreaction, I’d fucking kill him. And if it wasn’t me, someone else would, Stiles. And you know why? Werewolves don’t just exist in this shitty little fucking town. We’re all over the world. My mom’s side of the family was Mexican, my dad was Hawaiian. There were ‘wolves in New York too, we just kept to ourselves. Laura and me, just us, together. But if everyone knew we existed, it would be over and all of the people who think like Kate would have free reign to make it legal to do what she did because  _ we’re not fucking human. _ ” 

“Next day, he yells at me about returning his hunter girlfriend’s coat, and maybe I should have told him then about her family, but I didn’t and that was my mistake. I still thought he was capable of listening to me. Instead, he gets together with you, and you two work together and get me arrested.” At that point in Derek’s rant, Stiles’ head was hanging and he was grinding his teeth a little, but otherwise he was still there, letting Derek rage at him. Derek shook his head, exhaling sharply, his hands shaking from his anger and he was holding back his shift, but he had to get this out before he exploded. 

“I gave Scott every chance to work with me. You both knew where I lived, to talk to me, to use me as a resource, to ask me questions. Maybe I wasn’t as friendly to him as I have been to you, but you’re not the one at risk of killing people if you lose your shit.” Derek said in a softer tone, shaking his head. “So I gave up on him. I was going to let him do whatever the hell he wanted, hurt or kill whoever he wanted, because no matter what I’ve said or done he’s always done what he wanted to do anyway. I went after what I wanted, I searched for the Alpha and I fucking found him and I was chasing him, and I guess the Argents were close too because that’s when I got shot.”

“And y’know, Stiles…” Derek waited until Stiles was looking at him before he kept going. “I didn’t go to the school for him. I went there to look for  _ you _ .”

“Me?” Stiles was surprised and a little confused, his leg ceasing its bouncing.

“You’re the only one who’s just… listened and believed me since I got back. Yeah, you’ve done some stupid shit, like get me arrested, but I’m pretty sure that was mostly Scott’s fault.”

“In his defense, you did look guilty from our perspective.”

“And in my defense, it was my sister and I had a right to my privacy. She had a right to stay buried at home. As a wolf.” Derek smelled the shame and regret coming off of Stiles as soon as he’d said it and he exhaled heavily. “But neither of you knew who she was and that wasn’t your fault.”

“We never asked.” Stiles looked up at him, tilting his head a little, swallowing hard. “Like you said, we knew where you lived, Scott came here to confront you about Allison, that’s when he saw the grave. We could have asked who she was, why you buried her, did you kill her, anything, but we didn’t. Neither of us asked you anything until you were already in cuffs in my dad’s cruiser. From the sound of it, by then it was too late and part of me is pissed you gave up on Scott, but the other part gets it.”

Derek nodded, adjusting his arms a little and looking down at his jacket and the hole in the sleeve where the bullet had pierced through. “So, now you know everything. The only reason Scott’s ever been in as much shit as he’s been in is because he’s blatantly ignored everything I’ve told him in favor of being with Allison, or playing lacrosse.” He shrugged and shook his head. “He may be your best friend, and I’m sorry if this pisses you off, but I wholeheartedly believe that he’s selfish and I can’t help him if he doesn’t want to be helped.”

“You’re right,” Stiles nodded. “Ever since Allison showed up he’s been all about her and ever since this whole… werewolf thing and it made him better at lacrosse and he got put on First Line, its all gone to his head and he won’t even listen to me sometimes. And he used to always listen to me. Now he blows me off to go see her, or he just doesn’t even bother trying to hang out with me at all. I fucking miss him. He’s my best friend and he’s being a jackass right now, but  _ you _ have to see that its because in less than twenty-four hours our entire world changed.”

“You grew up in this, Derek. You grew up knowing what you were, knowing what’s out there. He grew up with an alcoholic dad who tossed him and his mom around until he left when Scott was just a kid. He grew up severely asthmatic, glasses, not great in school, not great in sports, not all that great at video games either…” Stiles snorted softly at the last one, shaking his head after a second. “So, having the ability to actually  _ play _ in the games you’re on the team for instead of warming the bench? To get to go on a date with the new girl instead of forever being a nobody whose name no one even remembers? Who even the teachers make fun of?”

“Maybe he’ll get better and start listening, maybe he won’t, but… I’m not gonna give up on him yet.” Stiles finished and Derek uncrossed his arms, rubbing at the back of his neck, stepping away from the outer wall of the house.

“I understand and I’m honestly still willing to be there… Like I tried telling him the first time we met, the Bite is a gift. I can teach him to use it, I can be a resource, or he can try and do this on his own. I already gave him another thing to think about tonight, he still has my number. If he calls, if he shows up, I won’t ignore him. But he  _ has _ to want my help, Stiles.” Derek said and furrowed his brow a little. “But we weren’t… really here to talk about Scott.”

“No,” Stiles said after a few moments. “No, w-we… weren’t here to talk about Scott.” He took a breath and let it out, nervous again. “Um, look, we can just forget about it. Its late and I should get home. My dad’s working late, but he’ll be back soon and if I’m not there, he’s gonna freak.” He started walking to leave, bowing his head and heading for the stairs.

“Stiles, wait,” Derek said softly and stepped towards him, catching the sleeve of his hoodie and getting him to stop. Stiles’ heart rate spiked, and Derek could see him look at his hand and then up at Derek’s face. “Sorry.” He said and let go. “I just… want to talk about it.” He smelled Stiles’ scent, the smell of fear, but hope and something else he couldn’t place yet.

“Can we go in? Its a little cold.” Stiles asked and Derek nodded, gesturing at the door. Stiles walked ahead and went inside, looking around and Derek realized this was the first time that anyone had been inside the house other than him in six years. Even Laura hadn’t gone in. He stepped into the living room and tossed his coat over the back of the couch, sitting down on the end opposite the entryway, Stiles taking the end closer to it.

“So, I’m getting the impression, very simply that… for whatever reason you care about me.” Derek said as he watched Stiles’ leg bouncing like crazy, him wringing his hands, biting his lower lip. Stiles glanced over at him, nodding.

“Four for you. Gold star.” Stiles said after he’d released his lip, swallowing.

“Why?” Derek furrowed his eyebrows and Stiles furrowed his, stilling. He looked over at Derek and shrugged.

“Why the fuck does anyone care about anyone?” Stiles asked, Derek raising an eyebrow at him. Stiles deflated and nodded, thinking about it for a long time before shaking his head “I just... do. You’ve saved my best friend’s life, you’ve done nothing but try to help him, and despite everything we’ve done to you, you’re still willing to help us. That’s selfless, brave, maybe even a little stupid.”

“Thanks.” Derek pursed his lips for a second.

“Missing my point.”

“No, I got it,” Derek sighed, shaking his head and wet his lips running his hands over his face. “You’re just… you’re sixteen. I’m twenty-three. You don’t know what you want.”

“I do know.” Stiles said in annoyance. “Its not like I haven’t thought about the fact that you’re seven years older than me, that my dad would probably shoot you. Wondering if that would even do anything to you, with the whole werewolf thing and realizing now it probably wouldn’t without wolfsbane. Knowing you’d probably think I was an idiot, for even considering something like you and me because I’m just some stupid kid. Wondering if you’d even bother with a human.”

Stiles stood up and stepped closer to Derek, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Derek looked up at him, hurt and longing coming from Stiles in unbearable amounts at this distance. “I didn’t  _ just _ start to like you. I don’t just think you’re hot and want to get into your pants. I mean, I won’t lie, you’re hot and I want to get into your pants, like whoa, but… its a lot fucking more than that.  _ I’m _ a lot more than that. Don’t just look at one part of me, don’t do that to me Hale, because I’ve never fucking boiled you down to just one thing.”

Derek lowered his gaze and started to tilt his head down, but Stiles reached out and caught his chin, tilting his head back up. “Please, fucking say something, because I’m dying here, man.” Stiles begged, a pleading expression on his face. 

“I…” Derek started, exhaling softly after a second and closing his mouth. He blinked slowly, swallowing before he reached up and put his hand over Stiles’. He moved it so that his lips touched his palm, his nose breathing in the scent at Stiles’ wrist. He smelled of honeysuckle, and Derek tried to commit it to memory, furrowing his brow and squeezing his eyes shut a little. “Its not safe for you to be close to me.” He said as he let go of Stiles’ hand and pushed it away, bowing his head. “Whatever you want from me, whatever you think we can have, it can’t happen.”

Stiles stood there for a minute and Derek could feel him staring. He didn’t say anything before he stormed off in anger, slamming the front door to the house, wrenching open the driver’s side door to the Jeep and slamming it shut. Gravel and dirt bounced off of things as Stiles sped away as quickly as he could and Derek buried his face in his hands, wishing he could have said anything else.


	10. Alone

It was the next night and Derek was on the roof of the movie rental place the Alpha had attacked, sitting and listening to the police as they tried to explain it away as an animal attack. Scott’s footsteps coming up behind him got him to look over his shoulder for a brief moment, but he turned back. “Thanks for coming.”

“What’d you find out?” Derek asked, looking over at Scott.

“I couldn’t get close enough to Jackson and Lydia… Stiles is trying.” Scott shook his head. Derek nodded, looking up as the ambulance pulled away.

“Its acting weird.” Derek said to Scott, looking over at him and seeing he was confused. “The Alpha. Werewolves we’re… We’re predators, but we’re not killers.” He lowered his gaze, something his mom had told him after Paige. After his eyes had turned blue. “Whoever it is, I’m going to need you to find it, and I can’t kill it on my own.”

“Why not?” Scott asked and Derek took a breath, letting it out heavily.

“There are three tiers to our kind. There’s Alphas, they’re the strongest and the leaders of our packs. Directly below them are people like us, Betas. That doesn’t make us helpless, but bottom line a Beta will always be weaker than an Alpha. Always.” Derek paused, looking at the roof beneath his feet for a few moments. “Below us, are the weakest of us. The Omegas who don’t have a pack, the lone wolves. They’re rare, because they’re easiest for hunters to take out and because what we are… we’re not a solitary species. Being alone for too long, without a pack, can make us go feral. It can turn us into the monsters that hunters make us out to be.”

“Have you seen one before? A feral?” Scott asked and Derek looked up at him for a moment, his eyes going back out to where the police and Stiles was sitting on the hood of his Jeep. Stiles matched his gaze before looking away with an expression of anger on his face.

“Once.” Derek said softly, not going into any more detail than that. They watched the police for a few minutes before Derek spoke up again. “In order to do this, you’re going to have to learn to endure pain. Remain shifted for long periods of time. You’re going to have to learn how to fight.” He looked over at Scott, searching his face. “I’ll talk to your friend Jackson myself in the morning. He doesn’t like you, so your chances would have been slim anyway. You worry about shifting and holding it. If you need me, call. We’ll work on fighting and your pain endurance around your lacrosse and work schedule. Just tell me when you’re free. Or work with Stiles, I don’t care. Just do it.”

Derek got to his feet and left Scott alone on the roof, going home and getting what little sleep he could. The next morning, he cornered Jackson once he was alone enough in the locker room. 

“Jesus  _ fucking _ Christ, what are you a ninja?” Jackson asked when he turned around and Derek was standing behind him suddenly. “Look, Stilinski isn’t in here, he already left.”

“I want to know what you saw last night.” Derek said and Jackson’s heart rate spiked and he swallowed hard.

“Why?”

“Tell me, or I’ll shove your head through that locker.” Derek looked at the locker next to Jackson’s, drawing Jackson’s eyes to it for a moment. Jackson closed his eyes for a second as his fear spiked and he let out a shaky breath.

“Jesus, man, whatever, um… It was big and fast, I didn’t see it all that well. I just tried to get down ‘cause everyone was fucking dead a-and it was knocking shit over,” Jackson wet his lips, blinking a few times. Jackson saw it better than he wanted to admit, but Derek didn’t fault him for that.

“What did it do when it got to you?” Derek frowned at him and Jackson shook his head and shrugged.

“I-I don’t know man, it knocked some shit down on top of me and I got trapped, so I kept my nose to to the fucking ground. It sniffed at the back of my head and then it was fucking gone.” Jackson said and gestured. Derek nodded slowly, satisfied at Jackson’s answers. “Are we done?” He asked, turning to put more of his stuff into his locker and Derek noticed something on the back of his neck. He grabbed Jackson’s shoulder and pulled the back of his Jersey down. “Whoa, hey, what the hell, man!”

Claw marks, too small to be the Alpha’s, old, and infected. He angled his fingers and mentally swore when they matched up.  _ ‘I must have done that whenever I got shot, but why would that stop the Alpha…?’ _ He let Jackson go and put his hands in his pockets, taking a couple steps back. “You should get those looked at. They’re infected.” He told him before he left, heading home. He wasn’t there long before he heard footsteps crunching in the leaves outside and he snuck his way to his mom’s old office, listening. His heart pounded in his chest when he recognized Kate’s voice and he could hear two other hunters with her. He waited, their footfalls getting closer, the front door kicking in, Kate taunting him about Laura and how they killed her. He knew they didn’t though, not that stupid, but her next taunt was what got him.

“Hmm, maybe he isn’t here. Maybe he’s too much of a coward to come back knowing that all those delicious yells and screams of ‘help us’ and ‘get us out of here’ as the house burned down around them were all his fault?” Kate mused to her hunter companions and Derek let out an angry roar as he shifted, leaping out at the first one he could see and knocking his head into the floor. He immediately stopped moving, but he was still breathing, unconscious, so Derek moved onto the next. 

Using the end posts of the stairs as steps, he grabbed the moulding of the entryway for what remained of the dining room and slammed his feet into the other hunter’s chest, swinging back before he dropped to his feet. He stared at Kate, watching her get out an electrified nightstick of some kind, a smile on her face. He hated the smugness coming off of her, he hated her smile, the sick way she was so fucking confident she was going to win. He ran at her and swung his arm back to slice his claws across her, but she sidestepped him easily, slamming him in the side with the nightstick and dropping him like a stone.

Derek’s whole body tensed against the current running through it and he reverted back to his human form, unable to hold his shift through the pain. He heard his phone going off in his jacket across the room, on vibrate thankfully, but he didn’t want to risk going for it. “W-what do you want from me?” He asked when he could speak again.

“Hmmmm, well... I want to kill you, also kind of want to lick things off your body… but I mainly want you to tell me who the Alpha is.” Kate said as she followed him while he crawled on the floor to the couch, leaning against the edge. Derek just glared at her as she crouched next to him, grinning. “Awwww, all fight and no talk? What happened to the days when you told me everything,  _ lobito _ ?”

“You don’t fucking call me that.” Derek growled out between his teeth. It was the name his mother used to call him and Kate knew it.

“Spoil sport.” Kate pursed her lips for a moment, shutting off her nightstick and putting it away. She looked at Derek, raising her eyebrows. “If you tell me who it is, fight it with me, we can kill it together. It won’t hurt anyone anymore. No more ‘animal attacks,’ means no more hunters.”

“We both know that’s bullshit.” Derek spat out and Kate let out a laugh. 

“Maybe, but what have you got left to lose?” Kate asked. Derek  _ actually _ spat in her face that time and she closed her eyes as she wiped her face dry and stood back up. “Y’know, I was hoping you’d make this go a little easier on yourself, but I’m getting the impression that you just don’t know anything and… well, that makes you useless, to me.” She said with a laugh and took her gun from its holster. Derek rolled out of the way as she fired a round where his head was just seconds before. He swung his leg out as he moved, taking both of hers out from under her and punching her in the face. “Agh, you fucker!” She shouted as he bolted out the front door and into the preserve.

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, glancing back only once, heading toward Beacon Hills and… where? Scott wasn’t an ally and Stiles was certainly off the table… right? Derek shook his head and pressed on, not knowing where he was going, just knowing it wouldn’t be home.


	11. Howl

Coming back that evening with the tools to fix his home’s front door, Derek had just finished putting it back in working order when Scott shows up at his home. He looks over at him, dropping the screwdriver into the toolbox he’d bought and stepping onto the porch, crossing his arms. Scott’s obviously freaking out over something and comes right up the stairs. “The Alpha came to me again.”

“What did he want this time?”

“Well, I was leaving Allison’s-”

“Because  _ that’s _ where you should fucking be.” Derek snapped, turning away from him and using his foot to close the toolbox, leaning over and picking it up as he headed back into his house. Scott followed.

“I’m not going to stop seeing her. Do you want to know about the Alpha or not?” Scott asked as Derek set the toolbox heavily on the kitchen counter. He sighed through his nose and nodded. “He drew this on my window.” He said and walked over to the counter next to Derek and in the ashes, he drew a spiral. Derek swallowed, staring at it.

“You’re  _ sure _ that’s what he drew?”

“Absolutely.” Scott nodded and Derek swore under his breath. “What?” 

“You need to go home, Scott. Right now.” Derek said and started ushering him out, grabbing his own coat as he headed to the front door with him.

“Wait, why? What’s going on?”

“Just - I don’t know, but you need to fucking go home. Please, for once in your damn life, listen to me,” Derek said and shut the front door to his house behind him and jogged over to the Camaro and got in, taking off toward the hospital. The spiral, their kind’s symbol for revenge, just as Scott was leaving the Argent’s? It couldn’t be a coincidence. The spiral deer being left so close to the house. The Alpha building a pack just as the Argents get back into town. It all fucking fit and he didn’t know how the hell he could have been so blind.

The Alpha had to be his uncle.

He just didn’t know how. Not when his uncle was still in the coma. Unless he wasn’t, which was what he needed to find out. The Alpha only came out at night and it was still night, so if his uncle was gone from the hospital that meant he had to be the Alpha. At least that’s the reasoning Derek had and it seemed sound in his mind, until he got to the hospital and found his uncle laying in his bed. Still comatose, still burned, no scent trail from him being moved or the Alpha having been there. 

Derek closed his eyes and bowed his head furrowing his brow and letting out a sigh through his nose as he closed himself in the room. He stayed until when technical visiting hours were and he startled the nurse from before, Jennifer, as she walked in, her heart racing. “Jesus, I didn’t know anyone was here already,” she said and went over to his uncle, checking over him.

“Sorry,” Derek said softly, watching for a moment. “Has he shown any signs of coming out of it?”

“No… I’m sorry, but I don’t think that should stop you from trying. Even if he never comes out of it, I think he appreciates you coming to see him.” Jennifer gave him a sympathetic smile before she left and Derek looked over at his uncle’s face again before he shook his head and got to his feet. He went over and gave his uncle’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before he went over to the door and put his hand on the handle, hesitating a moment. 

“I miss you.” He whispered before he left.

When he got to his car, he furrowed his brow as he found a note under the wiper blades, taking it out and unfolding it. It was written on the hospital’s stationary and all it had on it was a spiral and an address. Derek looked around for any sign of who might have left it, but he didn’t honestly care, getting into the Camaro and putting the address into his phone. He furrowed his brow when he recognized where it was and didn’t bother with turning the directions on, just driving off.

The vet clinic wasn’t that much farther away than the hospital and he got there just as Deaton was taking out some trash. He snuck up behind him, as Deaton lifted the lid to the garbage bin, slamming his forehead into it and dazing him. Stealing his keys he got Deaton back inside the clinic and tied him up as he sat in a chair with what he could, his anger fueling him. He questioned him, losing track of himself and the time until Scott showed up and stopped him.

“What are you doing? Put him down!” Scott shouted as he came in, Derek holding the chair Deaton was in, up in the air. 

“Scott, get out of here, run!” Deaton called over his shoulder. Derek put Deaton down, but he punched him out right after, finished playing games. 

“Stop! Derek,  _ stop! _ ”

“No, I’ve had fucking enough!” Derek shouted back and glared at Scott with blue eyes. “You wanna know what the spiral means Scott? Its our sign for a vendetta, for revenge. It means that he’s not going to stop until he’s finished what he started.”

“Wait, you think he’s the Alpha?” Scott asked in complete disbelief.

“We can’t stop our healing process if we’re unconscious, so there’s one quick way to find out.” Derek said and shifted his claws out, bringing his hand up, but Scott grabbed his arm, fully shifted and growled in warning at Derek. He stepped back, glaring at Scott, waiting for his next move. Was this a fight? Was he going to defend his Alpha? Scott shifted back after a moment, still glaring at Derek.

“He’s not the Alpha.”

“You don’t know that.” Derek shot back and they stood off for a few agonizing moments before he huffed out a breath and shook his head. “Do you have any better ideas?” Derek asked, crossing his arms and looking at Scott expectantly as the teen got out some rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball to tend to his boss’ wounds. He was quiet for a few moments before he glanced over at Derek.

“Meet me at the school in an hour.” Scott said softly. Derek stared at him for minute before he left, driving away from the clinic. He doesn’t wait for Scott, heading straight for the school and waiting, Stiles’ Jeep pulling in an hour later. Derek’s back straightened more as he leaned away from where he’d been resting his back against the Camaro. He probably should have expected Scott to have involved Stiles, but he had been so wrapped up in other things, he hadn’t had a moment to stop and really think.

Scott got out first and Derek put his attention on him. “So what’s your big plan?”

“Well, um… I’m going to bring the real Alpha here, so you can see that Deaton’s not the Alpha.” Scott answered and Derek raised his eyebrows high.

“How is  _ that _ a better idea than mine? You can’t even take a punch and you want to draw out the Alpha?” Derek mocked him, snorting out a laugh. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Are you sure your idea was better?” Stiles asked and Derek looked over at him.

“I do, actually. I was in the middle of trying it when Scott stopped me.” Derek pointed out, looking back over at Scott.

“Look, I wasn’t going to let you slash my boss, okay? Not without knowing for sure. Doing this will let us know for sure.” Scott shook his head and Derek rolled his eyes.

“Sure, whatever, do it. Howl.” Derek gestured for him to go ahead. “If I die and somehow you don’t, fuck both of you to hell and back.”

“Yeah, yeah, tone it down, wolf breath. We’ll be back,” Stiles said and they headed up the school steps. Derek sighed through his nose and leaned back against his car to wait. After a while he heard Scott clear his throat in the distance before it literally sounded like a cat in heat being drowned. Derek rolls his eyes and shakes his head, taking his left hand out of his jacket pocket and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Un- _ fucking _ -believable.” Derek said to himself. He looked up toward the sky and picked out what stars he could see as he bounced the heel of his foot on the ground. He was close to just going ahead with his idea anyway, until he heard Scott again and this time… This time it was a genuine howl and it was loud. Worryingly loud, to the point that Derek looked around him almost expecting other werewolves to start calling back. He wanted to, but he bit his tongue, glaring at the school and running his hands through his hair and letting out a slow breath. “Shit.”

Scott and Stiles came out not long after in chipper moods and Derek settled his gaze on Scott. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” Scott’s smile fell, his mood only falling a little.

“What are you talking about? I did it. I howled, now we just gotta wait.”

“Yeah, loud enough to attract the whole fucking state, or at least the whol-” Derek began, Stiles cutting him off.

“You bet your sweet ass it was,” Stiles said, high fiving Scott. “And it was awesome!”

“Shut up.” Derek said as he heard a low growl.

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a Sour Wolf.” Stiles said a little sad as he looked at Derek who was trying to listen, but he couldn’t hear it anymore. Scott furrowed his brow.

“Hey, what’d you do with him?” Scott asked and Derek turned, looking into the car and seeing that Deaton was gone.

“I didn’t do anything with him,” Derek said honestly as he turned back to Stiles and Scott, watching their eyes grow wide and then he couldn’t breathe. He felt himself vomiting something thick as he was being lifted from the ground and it had felt like someone had punched him in the back and his chest at the same time, but as he looked down he saw the Alpha’s claws coming out of his chest. He looked over at Stiles just before he saw him and Scott turn and run to go back into the school, his vision going black as the world tilted.


	12. Saved

Derek’s alarm went off and he blindly reached out for it, smacking it and managing to get it off before it went off his nightstand and onto the floor. He groaned slightly in annoyance, turning his face into his pillow and sighing.

“Time to get up,  _ lobito _ .” Derek’s mom said as she opened his door, waking him up again fifteen minutes later. “Breakfast will be ready in a couple minutes.”

“Mmm,” Derek hummed in response, actually moving to get up that time. He got out of bed and shuffled into his bathroom, yawning widely as he shut the door. He showered, brushed his teeth, he stepped back out and dressed, grabbed his backpack, and went downstairs. Downstairs was an organized chaos of breakfast being served, eaten, English and Spanish being spoken, laughter, running, playing, and imitation howls from younger siblings or cousins… a normal morning.

“Der, come on, I don’t want to be late.” Laura said as she put her arm around her younger brother’s shoulders, kissing the side of his head before pulling away on her way into the kitchen. “I have a test I want to study for first period.”

“Can’t you do that here?” Derek asked, part of him telling him to stay home. That something was going to happen. That… something wasn’t right.

“I told my friend Tasha I’d study with her,” Laura shrugged as Derek followed her, being handed a plate with bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns, and a churro cut in half by his dad, Dante.

“Eat up, son.” Dante smiled over at him for a moment. “Your mom’s gonna be home today, something about her office is flooded, so I’m taking care of breakfast this morning. Sorry.”

“Its okay, I like it when you cook,” Derek said with a soft laugh and Dante quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

“You okay? You smell like you’re feeling a little off.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I don’t know. Maybe I just need to eat.” Derek shook his head and went to the dining room and sat, quickly eating his breakfast. He looked around the table at his family as he ate. Cora, his younger sister. Brandon, younger brother. Marisol, his grandma. Hernan, his grandfather. Aunts, uncles, and his cousins throughout the house. It was full, happy, warm, loving, and safe. So, why didn’t it feel that way?

“Time to go.” Laura called from the front door, jingling her keys at him and he got up, abandoning his plate.

“Hey! Take your plate to the kitchen!” Cora said as she picked it up.

“You touched it last!” Derek called back to her with a laugh as he kept going, pulling the front door shut behind him and jogging to catch up to Laura.

A falling feeling…

Class was just starting and he sat down heavier in his chair than he meant to, feeling a little dizzy from the disorientation. He opened his economics book and rested his cheek against his fist, turning to the chapter they were supposed to be studying for the test they had the next day. He sat quietly, reading when he felt something in his chest that made his eyes widen, panic hitting him as nothing but pure emotional hit him hard. His chest started rising and falling quickly with his breaths and he fell out of his desk, Coach Finstock getting up and running down the aisle to him. “Hale? Hale! What’s going on, kid?”

“Can’t… breathe…” Derek gasped, squeezing his eyes shut and letting out a sob, grabbing onto his coach as he let out more and hid his face against his chest. 

“H-hey, hey, its okay... I-I got ya.” Coach Finstock told him, smelling confused, worried, and scared as he picked Derek up in his arms. “Uh.. keep uh… keep reading class.” He said as he stood up, taking Derek out of class and bringing him to the nurse’s office, the only thing he could think to do.

“What happened?” The nurse asked.

“I-I don’t honestly know. I think its a panic attack, but I don’t know what set it off. H-he won’t let go.” Coach Finstock shook his head as he was guided to bring Derek over to a bed. “Maybe call his parents? Or his older sister, she’s a student here, so she’ll be here already.”

“I’ll try his sister first.” The nurse nodded and went over to her desk, pressing the intercom access code. “Laura Hale, come to the nurse’s office immediately. Laura Hale.” She said before she hung up. A few seconds later, Laura slowly walked in, looking pale. “Well, that was fast.” The nurse commented in surprise, watching Laura go over to Derek without a word and take him effortlessly from Coach Finstock as she sat next to her brother. He moved away the moment he was free, still concerned, but relieved to no longer be a source of comfort for Derek when he had no idea what the hell was going on.

“Laura, do you know what’s wrong?” The nurse asked her, looking up at Coach Finstock as her phone rang. 

“I’ll get it.” He said and went over to her desk to pick it up, since Laura just buried her face against Derek and was holding him as much as he was holding her. “Nurse’s office, this is Coach Finstock.” He paused to listen to whoever was on the line. “Yeah, they’re both in here right now.” He looked over at Derek and Laura, furrowing his brow for a moment. His expression softened and his mouth fell open a little and he closed it again only to swallow hard. “Look, um… They’re both already really upset about something, could this wait?” He asked much quieter, turning away and holding a pained expression himself. He nodded as he listened. “Alright, well, they’re not going anywhere, so… yeah, bye.”

“Bobby?” The nurse asked as Coach Finstock hung up the phone and he just shook his head.

“I’m uh… I left my other students unattended.” He said before he practically ran out of the room. The nurse watched him go in confusion and even more worry, looking back down at Laura and Derek, going over to her desk since it didn’t seem like she could do anything for them. After a couple minutes, there was a knock on the doorframe of her office and the principal was standing just outside it.

“Hey, um… Elaine? Could we get the room?” The principal asked as he stepped in slowly, Sheriff John Stilinski walking inside with a somber expression on his face. A deputy followed them both, looking over at Derek and Laura - his expression was unreadable, almost cold. He stayed by the door. 

“Yeah, of course,” The nurse said and walked over to the door, stepping outside with the deputy and the principal, John staying in with Laura and Derek. He watched them for a few moments before he went over slowly and sat on the bed across from them.

“Laura… Derek?” John said, tilting his head at them. “I um.. I need to tell you kids something that’s not going to be easy to hear. I want you to know though, you ever need anything, you just ask, okay?” Laura and Derek pulled away from each other, looking at each other’s faces.

_ “Do we have to sit though this? We already know they’re gone.”  _ Derek asked her in Spanish.

_ “I’m sorry, Derek, but yeah… Yeah, we do.” _ Laura replied softly, brushing her hand gently against his face to wipe his tears away, sniffing. She looked over at John, letting out a shaky breath and switching back to English. “Thank you, sheriff. Whatever you have to tell us, its okay.” Laura told him, giving him a small smile. John nodded, looking down at his hands and turning his wedding ring a few times before he stopped and looked back up at them.

“There was a fire at your home… and unfortunately everyone home was trapped inside.” John said softly, looking between them. “Your uncle Peter, tried to enter the home and suffered severe burns, but he is alive and at the hospital right now.” Derek and Laura looked at each other when they heard that, relief washing over both of them

“Someone made it.” Derek said with a brief smile. Laura nodded, looking over at John.

“We have to go see him.”

“You’ve got permission to leave whenever you’re ready and we’ll escort you to the hospital so you won’t have to stop anywhere along the way. Not even at signs or lights.” John said as he stood, Laura standing up slowly too, helping Derek to his feet.

“Was it an accident or…” Laura asked, a question Derek hadn’t even been thinking to ask. John took a breath and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly, glancing at Derek.

“We’re not sure yet, but… preliminaries are pointing at it being intentional.” John answered. Derek’s stomach turned at the sound of the sheriff’s words and he pushed his way between them to the trash can, throwing up. He wondered if Kate knew who did it. If… If she did it… No, it wasn’t possible. She would never. Not her, she loved him and he loved her and she’d never do that to him.

A falling feeling…

Laying on the couch in the broken, ash covered ruins of his family home. He had an IV connected to his arm and he felt like he’d been laying down for days. He tried to sit up and Deaton’s hand on his shoulder from the other side of the couch eased him back down. “Hey… I know this is probably confusing.”

“St-” Derek tried to speak, but his mouth and throat were extremely dry. Deaton turned and dug around in something and when he turned back he had a bottle of water with a straw in it that he helped Derek get a drink from. “Stiles?” He asked as Deaton lowered the bottle of water to his lap, holding it in both hands. “Is he alive?”

“Stiles is unharmed.” Deaton answered, not a lie. 

“Who are you? What are you and what are you doing to me?” Derek asked, looking down at the IV.

“I’m Alan Deaten, a veterinarian, and IVs are generally for hydrating you.” Deaton answered, not a lie. “You’ve been unconscious for the last twenty-four hours healing from the wound that Alpha gave you and you still have another good twenty-four to go before you’ll be back to normal. You can’t hydrate if you’re unconscious.” Derek looked up at him as Deaton moved his chair so Derek could look more directly at him. Deaton tilted his head slightly to the side as he looked at Derek. “Go back to sleep… I’ll be gone when you wake up, more than likely, but then you’ll be stronger and be able to take care of yourself.”

“Why are you helping me?” Derek asked and Deaton stared at him for a minute before he seemed to cave about whatever was keeping him from answering.

“I owed a life debt to your family. Saving you… now its repaid.” Deaton answered and got to his feet, going over to Derek and resting his hand on his shoulder. “Sleep, young wolf. Perchance to dream.”


	13. Cure

The full moon’s high and Derek wants to run free, to let himself enjoy it, but instead… instead he’s babysitting Scott McCall. Which, Derek reliably predicted, was necessary as Scott managed to go on a run of his own and it ended with Derek tackling him to the ground before he could try to attack Jackson and Allison. They tumbled down a hill out of sight and human hearing range, Derek getting Scott into a lock and talking him down.

The walk back to Derek’s house is awkward, the drive to Scott’s house is awkward, and Scott finally says something when Derek’s about to leave. “We thought you were dead, man.”

“Nope.” Derek shook his head. “And you didn’t kill anyone your first full moon. Congrats. Go to bed.”

“Dude, do you even know what this did to Stiles?” Scott asked, angry and Derek furrowed his brow, looking away.

“If I’m not allowed to tell you how to run your love life, you’re sure as fuck not allowed to tell me how to run mine. And fun fact, for most of those wonderful organ, muscle, and bone repairing hours, I was fucking unconscious.” Derek shot back at him, Scott not really having anything to say to that. “Get out of my car, McCall.”

“There was something else I wanted to ask you.”

“Of course there was.” Derek rolled his eyes. “What?” He looked over at him, ready to shove him out of his car if necessary.

“Is… is there a cure?” Scott asked quietly and Derek blinked, his anger slipping a little. “Look, I know you think this is a gift and everything, but I just I don’t want to hurt anyone. I could have killed Allison tonight. So… is there?” Derek wiped at his mouth and shook his head before he turned it to look out at the street.

“There’s… a theory. I don’t know if it works or not, I don’t know of anyone who’s ever tried it.” Derek rested his hands on his lap. “If you kill the Alpha that bit you, there’s this theory that you’ll turn back.”

“Will you help me do that?” Scott asked as he looked over at him. “You said it yourself, you can’t take it down on your own and I know I sure as hell can’t fight it on my own.” He shook his head, looking at Derek expectantly. Derek taps his fingers against the steering wheel. The Alpha, in all likelihood, is his uncle. He doesn’t know how, but it was the only thing that made any sense, but absolutely no sense at the same time. He sighed, nodding.

“I’ll help you.”

“Do you promise?” Scott asked and Derek looked over at him. He stared, searching Scott’s expression, knowing full well if he promised it was a 50/50 chance to be a lie. 

“I promise.” Derek said quietly, Scott grinning. He turned and got out of the Camaro, leaving Derek alone in his car and he watched Scott sneak back into his house, lightly thumping his head against his seat after and shutting his eyes tightly. “Fuck…” His thoughts went to what Scott tried to say about Stiles and he moved his gaze to his rear view mirror to look at Stiles’ Jeep in the driveway of his house a few driveways back. Derek shook his head and pulled the Camaro around, parking on the opposite side of the street from Scott’s and getting out.

He walked to Stiles’ house, noting that the sheriff was working late, and from the light coming from Stiles’ bedroom window that he was too. He eyed the climb before he ascended, knocking on Stiles’ window. Stiles was sitting at his computer, headphones on and playing some kind of game. He furrowed his brow slightly and knocked again, but still nothing so he shifted his claws out and let himself in. Stiles was viciously attacking something with what looked to be a group of… Derek couldn’t even tell how many others there was so much information on the screen. He couldn’t even tell which character on the screen Stiles was.

“It should be dead here in about thirty seconds.” Stiles said quietly and Derek raised an eyebrow, but nodded and went over to Stiles’ bed and sat on the end at the edge to wait. All you could hear for those thirty seconds was Stiles’ rapid finger clicking and Derek waited patiently. He felt bad that Stiles seemed so… flat. His usual exuberance, even his anxiety was just gone.

He sniffed, picking up and energy drink off his desk and downing what was left. “Alright I gotta go to bed, guys.” He said and Derek realized that Stiles had been talking to someone on the computer the whole time, probably not even aware that Derek was in the room. Derek got up slowly and started moving towards the window again. “I’ll be online tomorrow, yeah. It’s Saturday. Raid, raid, raid. Need that damn skeleton mount.”

Derek snorted out a soft laugh before he could stop himself and Stiles jumped with a shout of surprise, getting up from his chair, throwing his headphones off his head while simultaneously tangling himself up in them and yanking them out of his computer, before he started to fall. Derek stepped forward quickly and caught him before he could hit the floor, Stiles stared up at him with wide eyes. “Y-you’re not… I mean, you’re…” Stiles stammered, his scent shifting to one of relief as his eyes glazed over, right before his scent shifted to anger.  _ “Where were you!” _ Stiles shouted as he pushed Derek away and ripped himself free of his headphones, throwing them at his computer chair after he stood up and squared off with Derek. “Three days! Three fucking days we thought you were dead, and then you just… you show up? Like nothing happened?”

“I was unconscious, Stiles.” Derek said softly, lowering his gaze. “I was awake for a few minutes a day ago, but it was barely long enough to get a drink of water and figure out what was going on. I only really woke up this morning and I spent all day gathering my strength so that if Scott attacked someone tonight, I could stop him.”

“Did he? We had him chained up and he broke free. I looked all over for him but I couldn’t find him and I… I didn’t have money for more gas right now.” Stiles lowered his gaze, clearly ashamed.

“He tried, but I stopped him. Got him to shift back. He’s back home, he’ll be okay the rest of the night.” Derek reassured him and Stiles breathed a sigh of relief, nodding. He went over to his bed and sat down on the edge where Derek had been, putting his head in his hands and leaning over to rest his elbows against his knees. Derek bit his lower lip for a second before he slowly walked over to sit on the edge of the bed too, just a foot down from him.

“I asked about you as soon as I woke up that first time,” Derek asked as he pressed the thumb of his right hand into the palm of his left. Stiles looked over at him, furrowing his brow a little, confused. “Deaton, he’s not the Alpha like I thought. He saved my life, pulled me away from the real one while it went after you and Scott. I didn’t… know if it had killed you or turned you or what.”

“No, we uh… we made it.” Stiles shook his head, biting at his lower lip, his foot bouncing a little until he stopped it. He scratched at the back of his neck. “Why’d you um… ask about me?” Derek looked over at Stiles, raising his eyebrows. “What, I can’t torture you a little, since you were a dick to me about my feelings?” 

“I didn’t…” Derek didn’t finish that sentence, pressing his lips together and exhaling heavily out his nose. “For some reason, I care about you too… but for me, for people around me, that’s dangerous. I didn’t get the chance to tell you this when it happened because we weren’t talking, but that day you were trying to call me? When I never answered my phone?” He shook his head and bit his lower lip for a moment. “Its because Kate came to my house to question me about who the Alpha is. And if you had been there? Or if she knew that I cared about you, she’d use that. She’d use you to get to me and I can’t… I can’t let anyone else I care about get hurt because of me.”

“So, what, I can’t be with you because it’s too dangerous? Being friends with Scott is dangerous, if you haven’t fucking noticed. Try again.” Stiles told him, furrowing his eyebrows even lower. “My dad’s a cop, okay? I’ve got my whole life to live being in a relationship with someone who I don’t know whether they’re gonna come home or not sometimes, especially now that I know what’s out there. That sometimes an ‘animal attack’ isn’t  _ just _ an ‘animal attack.’” He turned a little more towards Derek and tilted his head at him. “And now that Scott’s a werewolf, sometimes I don’t know whether or not he’s going to come home, or that he’s going to come home himself because he hurt someone or killed them because he finally lost control.”

Stiles played a little with the zipper pull on his jacket. “So, being with you, and not knowing if you’re going to come home because I don’t know if the Alpha really killed you or not because your body’s gone and your car’s gone… really isn’t that different to me than not being with you.” He said quietly. “It still feels like my heart’s being ripped out of my fucking chest and I can’t breathe and I don’t want to.” He sniffed, shaking his head. “But I have to because I’m still alive, so… are you going to be here or not, Derek?” He asked, looking up with bloodshot eyes. “‘Cause if not, just… get the fuck out.”


	14. Here

“So… are you going to be here or not, Derek?” Stiles asked, looking up with bloodshot eyes. “‘Cause if not, just… get the fuck out.” He shook his head. “I know its not really possible for us to never see each other again and I really don’t want that, its unreasonable and stupid and petty, but I just can’t have you in my room tonight if you’re not going to b-”

“Stiles, shut up.” Derek said softly as he got up and stepped closer to him. He cupped his cheek and leaned down, kissing his temple. He lingered his face close to his, letting Stiles turn his head toward him, pressing their lips together when they were close enough. Stiles reached his hand up and rested it over Derek’s against his cheek, lacing their fingers together. Derek broke the kiss, resting their foreheads together, keeping his eyes closed, but he could feel Stiles looking at him.

“What does that mean?” Stiles asked quietly, moving Derek’s hand so he could hold it in both of his. He tilted his head up and brushed their noses together a little, pulling away a little bit more, searching Derek’s expression. “Was it a ‘yes?’” Derek exhaled softly through his nose.

“I need time to think.” Derek murmured, opening his eyes and looking at their hands. “I lost Laura because of all of this, other people have died, gotten hurt… I know its not what you want to hear, but if I do this, you deserve to get all of me and I have to be sure. I don’t do things like this in half-measures. Its all or nothing.” He switched his gaze to looking at Stiles’ eyes. “Can you give me that?”

“How much time do you think you’d need?” Stiles asked, hesitant, but willing to do it if there was a chance it would be in his lifetime. “A week? A day? Couple hours?”

“I don’t know.” Derek answered honestly, shaking his head. “But I wouldn’t make you wait an unreasonable amount of time. This is important to both of us and I know you’d like an answer sooner, rather than later.”

“Obviously,” Stiles agreed, nodding, and laughing lightly. He looked back down at their hands and sighed softly, “Would it be weird if… you stayed the night?” Derek tilted his head and furrowed his brow. “Not like a ‘I have secret plans to seduce you’ type thing, but a ‘I would really like it if, even though you need time to think, we sleep in the same beds as totally platonic buds, since we’re both not dead’ type… thing.” He said and Derek raised one of his eyebrows. He thought about it, debating for a minute.

“I’ll need to move my car.” Derek said finally and Stiles grinned, doing a fist pump before trying to play it off.

“I mean, yeah, that’s okay. Totally, um… I’ll be here. Do you need to borrow pajamas or something? I can steal something from my dad, he won’t notice.” Stiles shrugged and Derek shook his head.

“Its fine. Just don’t lock the window behind me,” Derek pulled away, heading out Stiles’ window and getting down the street to his car. He drove further into the cul-de-sac they lived down, parking in the loop in front of a house that had a ‘FOR SALE’ sign out front and making his way back. When he got back, Stiles was in his bathroom in pajamas, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth as he did some sort of dance.

“Fuck yeah, you  _ got _ this,” Stiles told his reflection after he took out his toothbrush, spitting into the sink, sniffing and rinsing his mouth and the brush with water. “Just a sleepover with Derek Hale who you totally have a giant fucking crush on. Yeah.” His expression fell slowly over the course of a few seconds and he closed his eyes and sighed. “You’re an idiot.” Derek knocked on Stiles’ window, keeping his expression neutral so Stiles wouldn’t know that he’d heard him, waiting for Stiles to come let him in. Stiles looked over and grinned, practically vaulting over his bed and nearly tripping, opening the window.

“Nice save,” Derek commented.

“Right? Totally thought I was gonna fall, but hey, maybe werewolf reflexes are contagious.” Stiles joked and Derek laughed softly, taking his coat off.

“No,” he said simply and put his coat on the back of Stiles’ computer chair. He pulled his shirt off over the top of his head and put it with it, sitting on the edge of the bed so he could get his shoes off. He looked over, noticing Stiles staring at his chest. “Stiles.”

“Huh?” Stiles asked as he looked up at his face. “Sorry, uh… yeah, getting into bed.” He said and climbed onto the bed behind Derek, getting comfortable under the blanket. Derek shook his head a little as he set his first boot down, thinking maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all, but he knew that if he left now that he’d probably just hurt Stiles more. He got his other boot off and then his jeans, leaving his boxers and going over to lock the door. “What are you doing?”

“...locking the door?”

“...why?”

“I don’t know, maybe because if your dad decides to check on you, seeing me in here might get me arrested? Or shot.” Derek suggested and Stiles shook his head.

“Right, yeah, duh, of course,” he said and waved at Derek. “Go for it.” Derek nodded and locked the door, shutting the bathroom light off and then the bedroom light, leaving the room in near total darkness. He shifted his eyes and walked around to the bed, Stiles watching him with a grin on his face.

“What?” Derek asked and Stiles’ eyes widened.

“Wait, you can see me?” He asked and held up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Why else do you think I shifted my eyes? I didn’t want to trip over anything.” Derek answered him. “Three.” He earned some excited wiggling from Stiles who sat up in bed as he sat down next to him.

“Fuck, oh my God, that’s awesome, okay, what else can you do? Cause like, Scott doesn’t know to tell me all this stuff and you know like… everything.” Stiles said and Derek opened his mouth, but Stiles interrupted. “It looks so awesome when you blink. Also, why are yours blue and not gold like Scott’s? Is it because you were born a werewolf and he wasn’t? And red is for all Alpha’s?” Derek lowered his gaze and shifted his eyes back and looked away from Stiles. Stiles didn’t say anything for a moment and he exhaled softly.

“Sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t mean to annoy you.” Stiles said quietly, sounding dejected. Derek looked over where he saw Stiles’ outline and leaned against him, carefully moving to put his arm around him.

“You didn’t annoy me. There’s just some questions that are hard to answer.” Derek rested his cheek on Stiles’ shoulder and nuzzled at the spot just below his earlobe, where his scent would be strongest. He breathed in a little and Stiles swallowed, his heart pounding.

“Which one was it?” Stiles asked, unsure of which one, since he’d asked so many. Derek pulled away, laying down and getting comfortable.

“The one about my eyes.” Derek said softly, leaving his arm stretched out so that when Stiles laid down on his side and faced him, he could move closer and angle it to rest against Stiles’ back. Stiles had his arms both pulled tight to his chest and Derek sighed lightly, not even needing to smell his anxiety and guilt. “Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“Try something for me?”

“Uh… what am I trying?” Stiles asked suspiciously.

“Just… do what I’m doing.” Derek said softly. “Mirror me, my body, my breaths, all of it.”

“Is this some weird werewolf kink?”

“ _ Stiles. _ ”

“Okay, okay,” Stiles said and slipped his arm under Derek’s head and down his back after a moment resting the other slightly around Derek’s waist, having to move almost chest to chest for them to lay like that. “This is… a very  _ not _ platonic sleeping position.”

“I don’t plan on sleeping like this, and you’re not mirroring me. Come on,” Derek sighed and rubbed Stiles’ side a little, smirking a little when Stiles rubbed his. “Breaths.” He stopped talking and took slow and even breaths. He didn’t bother trying to deep ones, that not really being necessary, just calm ones. After a couple minutes Stiles’s scent was a lot more calm. “Feeling better?”

“Huh?” Stiles asked, pulling his head back a little to look at Derek. Now that it had been dark in the room for a while, the faint light coming in from the window made it a little easier to see each other. Derek let out a soft breath.

“Born wolves rely very heavily on scent with each other. Especially within their pack. They’re called chemosignals. Emotional scents that we can pick up to tell whether someone’s feeling scared, angry, ashamed, happy, sad…” Derek paused, wetting his lips. “We use them constantly with each other and they’re part of our body language. You know how you’d know a person was scared because their eyes are wide and they’re shaking? I’d also know it from the way they smell like frost and this… bitterness that clings to everything, their sweat, and separately we’d use hearing their heart rate, but anyway.” He looked at Stiles, raising his eyebrows.

“I tend to know how you’re feeling, because I want to know how you’re feeling. I want to know you’re okay, because when you’re not, I want to fix it. A few minutes ago you were anxious and you were feeling guilty because you’d made me feel bad from the question you’d asked. Even though you didn’t mean to. So, I did what Laura and I learned to do for each other while we were living in New York and started having panic attacks. I got you to lay in a relaxed position with me, and just breathe calmly for a while… and it worked, but now you’re anxious again, so I guess not very well. I’ve only ever done it when we were alone though.”

“Sorry, I just… I didn’t know that you ever paid that much attention, or could. Scott doesn’t.” Stiles rolled his eyes at himself. “But like you said, ‘born wolves.’ Um… so wait, does that mean you consider me part of your pack?” Derek thought about it, gently tracing his fingers against Stiles’ side. 

“...yeah.” He said softly as he closed his eyes. “I think I have for a while and just didn’t realize it.” Stiles moved his hand and rested it over Derek’s chest in the center, over his heart.

“Pack.” He said with a bit of pride. Derek looked up at Stiles, moving his hand from his side after a few moments and placed it against Stiles’ chest, over his heart.

“Pack.”


	15. Family

“ _ Fuck! _ ” Derek shouts angrily as Scott slides the Camaro through the warehouse district, hunters and cops following slower and slower behind them, but they were still getting shot at. “Fucking floor it!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Derek told him and Scott pressed down more on the gas and they pulled away even farther from the vehicles chasing them. Scott sighed in relief after a couple minutes, getting onto the highway as soon as he could and then hopping off at the next exit, turning when Derek pointed to direct them back toward familiar roads and Scott’s house. Derek got out the paper note that was his only success out of that misadventure, unfolding it and raising an eyebrow at it, turning it in different directions to try and figure out what the hell it was.

“What is it?” Scott asked, glancing over.

“I don’t know, something I got off of Harris.” Derek answered and passed it over to Scott who looked at it once he fully stopped at the stop light they’d been approaching. He turned it a couple times.

“I think I know what this is.”

“What?”

“I think… I think I’ve seen it on Allison’s necklace, but I don’t know. I’d have to compare them to be sure.” Scott said and Derek nodded. If that was true, then Scott’s chemistry teacher likely had something to do with the fire, he just didn’t know what. He hadn’t had the chance to ask anything before the cops and the hunters had shown up to run him and the Alpha off.

“Keep that then, get a look at her necklace, or get her necklace. Whichever. Just make sure and get back to me.”

“Alright,” Scott nodded and put it into his jacket pocket, driving off when the light changed. Getting back to Scott’s house, Derek got out briefly to examine the damage to Laura’s car and ran his hands over his face. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, shaking his head at the broken rear windshield, the bullet holes, and even one that he took a couple minutes to pry loose with his claws, wincing because it was silver. He shook his head again and parked his car in the garage of the house that was for sale at the end of the cul-de-sac, breaking the lock and pulling in.

A few minutes later, he lifted Stiles’ window open and shut it behind him. Stiles was already dead asleep and he went over to him, rubbing his arm. He didn’t want to scare him awake. “Stiles,” he said and earned a groan, Stiles rolling onto his side and huffing out a few heavy sleep laden breaths through his mouth.

“Derek?” Stiles asked and Derek nodded.

“Can I stay again?” He asked and Stiles furrowed his brow, opening his eyes more, nodding slowly after a few moments. Derek went over to the door and locked it, getting ready for bed before getting next to Stiles and curling up with him.

“Y’know…” Stiles yawned widely, snuggling up against Derek’s chest, feeling warm from being asleep for a while already. “You make this a habit, people’ll talk.” He mumbled.

“Go back to sleep.” Derek told him, kissing his forehead between his brow and earning a happy little hum of agreement.

“Night, Der.” Stiles half-whispered.

“G’night, Stiles.” Derek whispered back, closing his eyes and sleeping until Stiles’ alarm woke them both up. He buried his face into Stiles’ pillows after Stiles got up, having zero interest in waking up yet after how late he’d been out. Stiles didn’t question him on it until an hour later, when Stiles had showered and gotten almost completely ready for school. He looked at Derek in his bed, stripped down to boxers again, laying out on his stomach with his arms wrapped around a pillow and his face buried into it, one leg half hiked up and looking…. Yeah, Stiles definitely wished he didn’t have school that day.

“Are you staying here all day?” Stiles asked, zipping up his backpack and putting it on. Derek shrugged his shoulders. “Okay… well, I’ll lock the door behind me, but if you leave, unlock it ‘cause there’s no key so I won’t be able to get in otherwise.”

“Okay,” Derek said in a muffled voice. Stiles raised an eyebrow at him, snorting softly and went over to him. He kissed his cheek, Derek lifting his left hand and resting it against Stiles’ head. “Be safe… and watch out for Harris. Alpha went for him last night.”

“What?” Stiles asked as he pulled away, furrowing his brow.

“Scott’ll explain… has a drawing I got from him before the cops and the hunters showed up. Its… a long story. Just ask Scott.”

“Trust me, I’m going to.” Stiles said and gently ran his hand over Derek’s hair a little before he left, shaking his head. Derek opened his eyes slightly, staring at a spot on the wall. 

_ ‘These are relationship things. You might as well just do it, Hale… Coming here like this is already putting him at risk anyway.’ _ Derek closed his eyes again and reburied his face into the pillow and did his best to go back to sleep until Stiles called his phone close to the end of the school day. He answered after he finished yawning, wiping his eyes. “Yeah.”

“Hey, where are you?”

“Your bed.”

“Really?” Stiles sounded like he was grinning. “Or was that just really, really good sarcasm.”

“One sec.” Derek said and took a picture of himself in Stiles’ bed before he sent it him, promptly deleting it on his phone.

“Oh my God, did you really just send me this?” Stiles asked. “Don’t even answer. Thank you, what the fuck, yes, bless you,” he rambled on with more and Derek laughed, shaking his head.

“You have to delete that.”

“What? Aw, come on,” Stiles complained, groaning. “Damn it… you suck. Alright, after we get off the phone. Anyway, I’m out of school. Had a test in last period and I got out early, but I need a favor from you that requires you to be at my house, so… just stay there I guess?”

“Simple enough.” Derek raised his eyebrows for a moment. “Does it require clothes?” He glanced at his boxers. “More than my boxers.”

“...God damn you are a fucking nightmare right now,  _ yes _ , unfortunately for my very much virginated self it requires clothes. I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Stiles said in frustration, hanging up. Derek grinned, a little amused at himself. He tossed his phone onto the bed and got up and redressed, going over the books that Stiles had and picking up his school library copy of The Great Gatsby. He sat in his computer chair and unlocked Stiles’ bedroom door, reading until he heard voices and he furrowed his eyebrows when Stiles came in.

“Okay, so my friend Danny is going to help us track a text message, but he doesn't _ know _ that he’s going to help us track a text message yet and he’s into dudes and I really, really, really,  _ really _ need you to… kind of be his encouragement.” Stiles said rapidly and looked at him with a hopeful expression.

“Define 'encouragement.'”

“I don’t know, I mean… don’t punch him like you probably normally would. Just be your normal, sexy self and it’ll be fine. Except don’t flirt with me, you’re here for him. Which makes me kind of more turned on?”

“Go.” Derek refocused his attention.

“Right.” Stiles said and went back downstairs to go get Danny. Derek went over to the bed and got comfortable to read, scratching slightly at his temple at the ridiculousness of all of this.

“Okay, so I think we should…” Danny paused after he walked in and saw Derek, raising his eyebrows. Derek checked on his arousal and yep, definitely distractible. “Hi.”

“Sorry, that’s my cousin… Miguel. He doesn’t speak English.” Stiles lied.

_ “Really, you’re going with I don’t speak English?” _ Derek asked him in Spanish and then it was both Stiles and Danny staring at him.

“ _ Much _ English.” Stiles corrected for himself. “This is Danny.” He said purposely and pointed.

“Hi, Danny,” Derek said after he got up and offered Danny his hand to shake, putting on his best Mexican accent.  _ “This better be worth it, Stiles.” _ He said after he got his hand back and gave him a thumbs up.

“Hey, Miguel.” Danny said and looked back over at Stiles after shamelessly watching Derek’s ass while he walked back over to the bed to sit back down to read. He pretty much tuned out the home work talk and focused on reading the book he’d picked out for himself until Stiles threw a paper wad onto his lap.

“Hey, Miguel!” Stiles sounded exasperated and Derek looked up.

“Sorry,” Derek apologised, lifting the book slightly. “Its good.”

“Its okay, man, but your shirt’s got that  _ paint stain _ on the sleeve there,” Stiles pointed to his shoulder and he looked over and realized he was wearing the shirt from when he’d gotten shot. “Why don’t you see if there’s anything in my dresser that’ll fit you?” Derek pursed his lips for a second, shutting the book loudly in slight irritation. Either Danny had noticed, or Stiles’ attempts to get him to track the text weren’t going so well. He set the book on the bed and got up, taking his shirt off in a long fluid gesture, purposely torturing Stiles at the same time he was giving Danny a show. If he had to be eye candy for some stranger, he was going to make Stiles suffer for it.

He checked through Stiles’ clothes, one shirt after another, after another, after another, until eventually he turned and looked at him. “Stiles,” he said.

“Yeah?” 

_ “None of these are going to work.” _ Derek shook his head and lifted the shirt he'd last checked.

“Try that again, buddy, more English. You know my Spanish isn’t great.” Stiles said and Derek clenched his jaw, exhaling heavily through his nose.

“No,” Derek held up the shirt again and pointed at the drawer, gesturing at the entire contents and shook his head. “Also no.” Stiles slowly nodded.

“Alright, uh… Just do the best you can, buddy.” Stiles grimaced sympathetically and after Danny turned back to the computer he mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’ to him. Derek pursed his lips, looking at the back of Danny’s head for a moment before nodding and turning back to try and find the closest fit he could, since obviously he wasn’t allowed to put his own shirt back on. He ended up with an orange and blue horizontal striped polo that he felt just barely came down below his navel with how tight it fight everywhere else and he shook his head, moving back to sit down. Thankfully, not too much later Stiles was thanking Danny and he was leaving and Derek immediately took off the shirt and threw it at Stiles’ head.

“Never again.” Derek told him as Stiles pulled the shirt off his face and laughed, going over to him.

“I don’t know, 'Miguel' was kind of hot.” Stiles grinned and Derek rolled his eyes, hooking his right forefinger into the collar of Stiles’ shirt and pulling him in for a kiss. Stiles’ eyes widened in surprise, but he smiled into it, putting his arms around Derek’s shoulders. Derek broke the kiss after a moment though, looking at Stiles.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make any sense. See, Allison got a text on her phone that was supposedly from Scott, but he didn’t text her. So, Danny traced the text and it’s from his mom’s work computer, but I don’t understand why his mom would send Allison a text pretending to be Scott.” Stiles shook his head. “I’ve got homework I was gonna do and then I was going to go over to the hospital and try to see what I can find out.”

“Alright,” Derek nodded, watching Stiles pull away and go over to his backpack to get out his homework. He stayed quiet for a little while, just letting him work before he got up to put his shirt back on, and his shoes since those were the only things he hadn’t bothered with yet. “I’ll meet you there later.”

“Taking off?” Stiles asked as he looked up when Derek started moving around.

“Figured I would. I’ve been here all day. If I stay, I’m just going to distract you,” Derek said and kissed Stiles’ forehead after he got his boots on, grabbing his coat. He thought of something and grinned.  _ “I’ll stay here tonight again.” _ He told him, Stiles groaning both from actual frustration and sexual.

“Why did you actually have to know how to speak Spanish? I don’t know what you’re saying and you keep saying things and I need to know so I’m gonna have to learn and  _ I don’t have time to learn a language _ , right now _ . _ ” Stiles buried his face in his hands and Derek laughed, resting his hand on the back of Stiles’ neck and kissing the top of his head.

“I said that I’ll be here tonight again.” Derek told him softly, Stiles lowering his hands and looking up at Derek. He smelled worried and he furrowed his eyebrows at him, tilting his head slightly.

“Isn’t it going to look suspicious if you’re here all the time?” He asked and Derek shrugged.

“Not if the Argents don’t know I’m here. The Alpha isn’t after me and after last night, my car has to go into a body shop anyway. I won’t be driving mine after tonight.” Derek said and Stiles narrowed his eyes at that.

“Whose will you be driving?”

“...a rental?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s… yeah.” Stiles blushed and Derek chuckled, shaking his head as he put his coat on. “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yeah, there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but it can wait for now.” Derek said softly. Stiles nodded, furrowing his brow for a second before he started to turn back to his homework while Derek climbed out the window. “And I’m going to start keeping clothes here.” He added, Stiles raising his eyebrows at him as Derek closed the window behind himself. He enjoyed the bit of sputtering and scrambling for the window that Stiles did, getting to the sidewalk before Stiles got it back open.

“What does that mean?” Stiles asked, but Derek kept walking, that being the topic of what he wanted to talk to him about later. He got the Camaro into a shop, grimacing at the estimate for the damage before picking up a rental and heading back to his own house. What he couldn’t get out of his mind wasn’t what he wanted to say to Stiles later, though, it was the text Stiles had gotten Danny to trace. Why  _ would _ Scott’s mom text Allison’s phone pretending to be Scott? There wasn’t enough of a benefit for her in it and Derek had watched Scott for too long to not have gained some insights into Melissa McCall. She was a kind, hard-working woman, who very much loved her son and wanted to make sure that he had what he needed… if not what he wanted. There wasn’t anything that would drive her to do something like that.

Someone that  _ would _ have something in driving Scott apart from Allison would be the Alpha. The Alpha saw Scott leaving the Argent’s house and put the spiral on Scott’s window… not just to show Scott that the Argents were his targets, but to order Scott away from them. If the Alpha knew that Scott was still seeing her, he might try to separate them… and the Alpha’s methods left little room for negotiation or error. Derek swore and got up from the couch at home, grabbing his coat and running out to his rental, driving as fast as he could toward the hospital. He called Stiles’ phone, biting at his lower lip.

“Yo, sweet cheeks,” Stiles was clearly smiling on the other line.

“Stiles, where are you?” Derek asked with a worried tone.

“Uh… I’m already at the hospital, why?”

“Are you inside yet?”

“No, I just parked and was about to call you, actually. What’s going on?” Stiles asked in confusion.

“I think the Alpha might have sent that text. Or someone sent it for them. Maybe even Scott’s mom, if he threatened her.” Derek said as he sped toward town. “Just wait for me before you go in. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

“Yeah, okay, but-” Stiles was trying to say something else, but as soon as Derek got the affirmative he hung up. He stepped on the gas, making his way there in fifteen minutes and swearing when he pulled up next to an empty Jeep.

“Fucking damn it,” he swore and got out, running inside. He called Stiles again and slowed, trying to follow his scent.

“Hey, s-”

“You didn’t wait for me.”

“Well, its doesn’t really matter either way, ‘cause I can’t find her.” Stiles told him and Derek rolled his eyes.

“That’s not the damn point, Stiles. Ask for Jennifer, she’s the nurse that’s been taking care of my uncle.” Derek said and stepped out of the way for a patient being wheeled out of a doorway before running forward. Stiles was quiet for a minute before Derek heard him sigh.

“Yeah, she’s not here either, and neither is your uncle.” Stiles said and Derek furrowed his brow.

“What are you talking about? My uncle…” Derek’s eyes widened. “Stiles, get out of there, now! My uncle’s the Alpha! Run!” Derek heard Stiles drop his phone and he swore as he pocketed his own and bolted in the direction of his uncle’s room. It didn’t take him long to get there and as soon as he saw Jennifer and her hostility towards Stiles he pushed her head into the wall next to her and knocked her out.

“Derek, that wasn’t very nice of you to do to my nurse,” Peter scolded him.

“Fuck you,” Derek said and looked at Stiles. “Move.” Stiles looked between Derek and Peter, grimacing and whining before he stepped back into Peter’s room. Derek looked over at his uncle, shifting his eyes first. “You’ll pay for what you did to Laura.”

“You think that was on purpose?” Peter asked as Derek roared and completed his shift, charging him regardless of what he said. He didn’t give a shit what Peter’s excuses were, what kind of games his uncle wanted to try to play with him. He’d done it once, years ago with Paige, he wouldn’t let him do it again with Laura. Not with his sister. Peter grabbed him and swung him like a baseball bat full force into the wall before letting him drop, Derek coughing and rolling onto his back trying to breathe.

“Doesn’t… matter.” He wheezed, and Peter tsk’d, shaking his head

“Of course it does,” Peter said softly, lifting him back onto his feet by his throat, punching him in the face and sending him stumbling back. “You don’t have any idea what it’s been like, healing over the years, slowly becoming aware of what’s going around me again and not being able to interact, to do anything about what happened to our family, to my wife, to my daughter.” Peter retrieved they keys from his nurse, walking over to Derek and shaking his head. “You and Laura left, gave up. You  _ abandoned _ them.”

“They were dead, you were in a coma, and we didn't want to be next.” Derek said as he tried to get up, earning a swift kick to his ribs with each word Peter said next.

“You had a responsibility to your family!” Peter roared at him, his eyes shifting red. “To each other!” He stopped kicking him so he could grab Derek’s coat and lift him up off of the floor and bring them face to face, staring into his eyes.  _ “To me.” _ His words were laced with the pull of an Alpha, the pull of being Derek’s Alpha, and Derek closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling shakily as he struggled to breathe.

“What… do you… want… from… me?” Derek croaked, Peter dropping him to the floor. Derek’s head smacked against it first and he felt himself fall unconscious for a moment, coming back quickly. He heard Stiles’ off-key battle cry as he slowly opened his eyes and then the  _ whoosh _ of a fire extinguisher being emptied. He furrowed his brow as he watched Stiles spraying the fuck out of his uncle, and were the situation not so dire, and his lungs actually fully functional at the moment, he would have laughed. Eventually, the extinguisher didn’t have anything left in it and Stiles shook the hose, trying to get it to do something, fear settling in again even stronger as he realized that his idea to rescue Derek hadn’t actually done anything.

Peter wiped his hand down his face, slowly clearing his eyes until he could settle them on Stiles and start stalking toward him. “My patience for your existence has grown thin.” He snarled and Stiles started backing away.

“D-don’t!” Derek called out, his voice cracking. Peter turned toward him, looking over at his nephew. “Y-you want… me to join you… right? Leave him… alone. A-and I’ll do it.” His uncle slowly grinned and started laughing, looking between Stiles and Derek, actual head thrown back and arms around his waist laughing.

“What  _ is _ it with you and humans, hmmm? First that girl, what was her name… Pepper? Patricia?”

“Paige.” Derek said between his teeth as he used one of the chairs in the waiting room he’d ended up in to work his way back to his feet while he slowly healed.

“Whatever. Now, this kid?” Peter asked and looked over at Stiles, tilting his head at him. “I knew I kept smelling you two on each other more, but I just thought it was because you and Scott didn’t get along, not because you were planning on having him join the family.” He eyed Stiles up and down before looking back at Derek. “Tell you what, you join me and in exchange, I won’t touch him for as long as he continues not to get in my way.”

“He won’t.” Derek promised, looking over at Stiles and fixing him with a hard stare. Stiles looked at him, shaking his head.

“H-hey, I don’t agree to this.”

“You have to, I’m his Alpha, he’s your Beta, and you’re his bitch, which makes you  _ my _ bitch.” Peter said and stepped over to Derek. He looked him over and sighed. Derek watched as Peter popped his neck and the remaining burns on his skin faded away before Peter reached out and rested his hand against the back of Derek’s head. Derek’s eyes widened and he clutched the chair he was using to stand tighter as the pain suddenly vanished and he could feel himself healing even faster, Peter looking a little tired when he took his hand back. 

“Can’t have you broken. We have work to do.” He looked over at Stiles for a moment. “Go home. We don’t need you. You’re not a part of this.” Stiles looked over at Derek, who lowered his gaze, nodding a little.

“Will you be…?” Stiles trailed softly. Derek knew though that he was asking if Derek was coming back.

“I don’t know.” Derek said softly, following his uncle out of the hospital.


	16. Missing

Its been days and Derek can’t remember when he last slept. His uncle hasn’t stopped for a moment to take a break and he’s running ragged. He knows his uncle’s doing it so that he can’t fight him as well, so that when he uses his telepathy, his Alpha voice, that Derek can’t fight him as well. Its been particularly effective in keeping him from going to Stiles, or trying to kill his uncle when he’s thought he’s had chances. 

One thing in particular he didn’t want to do was bring Jackson into their pack. Unfortunately, from Jackson trying to blackmail Scott, they didn’t have any choice. So, he brought him to their house on the preserve, hearing Jackson’s heart racing the whole way and smelling his anticipation and fear. “You’ll really turn me? Make me like Scott?”

“I can’t, but my uncle can. He’s waiting for us inside.” Derek said quietly, leading Jackson up to the front door and opening it, gesturing for Jackson to go first. Jackson looked inside, hesitating but going in. Derek followed and shut the door behind him, starting to go to the living room.

_ “Stay.” _ Peter told him and Derek stopped, swaying slightly and he nodded, moving just to the side of the front door, crossing his arms. He got out his phone as Jackson stepped further into the house.

“Where is he?” Jackson asked and Derek looked over, raising his eyebrows and glancing around.

“He has a flair for the dra-” Derek cut off, wincing when his uncle snapped at the bond. “Close.” He corrected, looking over when he and Jackson both heard growling from upstairs. Jackson started freaking out and backing toward the door and Derek moved in his way, a few moments later, Scott barging into the house.

“Jackson, run!” Scott yelled and Jackson ran out the open front door as fast as his legs would carry him.

_ “Punish him!” _ Peter ordered and Derek shifted, roaring at Scott before charging him right before the house began to be pierced by dozens of bullets. Scott cried out when he got hit and shifted back to his human form as he dropped, Derek going down with him when he tackled him, switching to protector mode as Peter’s hold on him faded. 

“Out the back,” Derek said and started pushing Scott towards the kitchen and the back door, crawling and pulling him towards it. Scott moved once he realized Derek was helping him, going towards it. Derek got up when the bullets stopped, going for the front door and opening it, planning to make a diversion for Scott and immediately getting blinded and hit by something small in the neck. He reached to grab it and take it out, but he barely had his hand out it before he was falling, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

When he found his way to being conscious again he didn’t know how much later it had been, but he knew he’d been drugged from the way everything was still blurry and his mouth felt like cotton. His arms are held over his head and he looked up to see thick metal cuffs. “Its awake.” Someone says in the corner and he gasps and arches his back away from whatever he realizes they have taped to his side that’s filling his body with electricity.

“What is he?” Allison asks softly.

“Werewolf, lycanthrope, they’ve had a lot of names through the years,” Kate says and Derek looks up, glaring at Allison, sliding his eyes over to Kate as she steps closer, growling. “Oh, now none of that.” She snaps her fingers and the hunter by a set of controls turns a dial on them up again and he tensed again, grunting from the pain.

“F-fuck you.” Derek managed after they turned it back down and he could shift back, slumping and Kate laughed.

“What, won’t hold that beautiful face for my niece here?” Kate asked and raised her eyebrows at him. “Can’t show her what a killer looks like?”

“Just… turn around,” Derek looked up slowly at Allison, panting heavily. “She-” Kate reached over and cranked up the dial herself, watching as Derek’s eyes flew open and rapidly shifted back and forth. Allison looked away and Derek passed out not long after.

_ “...ou’re getting any of these, please call me back, okay?” _ Stiles’ voice sounded recorded as he came to, his eyebrows furrowing for a moment, remembering those exact words for some reason.  _ “I’m scared Peter’s got some sort of Alpha mind control chip thing going on. You’re not being you, so just come home to me. Fuck, just… fucking come home.” _ Stiles was crying before he hung up and the voicemail automated voice asked if he wanted to repeat the message or delete it.

Derek raised his head and looked over at Kate who was looking smugly at his phone, sitting in the chair the other hunter had been before, her feet propped up with her ankles crossed on another chair in front of her. “Well, isn’t that just sweet. Someone’s in love with a human again.”

“I’m not in love with him, but the kid thinks he is with me. He’s sixteen, he’s an idiot.” Derek said weakly, looking away from her and hanging his head again, trying to save his strength.

“Hmmm, maybe. You certainly were.” Kate tossed his phone next to the controls as she got to her feet, walking to stand in front of him. “But I read your texts though too, your call history. Should really clear that shit out more often. You boy’s got a very imaginative mind and  _ dirty _ . Virgin, right? No one talks about sex that much.” Derek didn’t say anything. “What, no come back?”

“What do you want this time, Kate?” Derek asked, looking up at her. Kate raised her eyebrows and sighed, crossing her arms and stepping until she was only a few inches away from him.

“Who’s the other beta? We know there’s two of you now.” Kate said and reached her arms out, resting them on the bars of the frame they’d attached him to on either side of his hips.

“What, gave up on the Alpha?” Derek asked and Kate laughed.

“Don’t be stupid, we know your dear old uncle’s missing from the hospital. Its not that complicated to put two and two together.” Kate moved her left hand to his stomach, grinning when he flinched away from her, keeping her hand against him and sliding it up his chest. “We saw Jackson Whittemore running away from here, but he was too fast for us. We can catch up to him later. If he’s the one you’re protecting, there’s no point. We already have him.”

“Then like you said, there’s no point.” Derek shot back at her between his teeth. He wanted her hand off of him, he wanted his hand around her throat, to claw that smile off her face, to rip her still beating heart from her chest and feed it to her.

“That’s fair,” Kate rolled her eyes, pulling away and sighing, shaking her head. “You’re really not fun to play with anymore, Derek. What happened to us?”

“You murdered my family.”

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” Kate grabbed the red connection for the jumper cables they’d used to set up their device, switching it back on. “I’d bet you didn’t even tell anyone about our little relationship either, did you? Sneaking around, making out at the hot springs, making sure you didn’t smell like me so our families wouldn’t find out. It was all so very poetic.” She smiled, almost sounding believable for a moment there if she weren’t slowly turning the dial to an uncomfortable level. “It’s just too bad we gotta do it again, with such a sweet past, but you know what they say about history… it repeats itself.”

“I’ll never help you.” Derek growled, gritting his teeth as the setting she reached hit a level that made him shift, grunting against the feeling of being forced into it. Kate was distracted by what she’d said though.

“History repeats itself… A werewolf falls in love with a brilliant and beautiful hunter…” Kate looked up at Derek and slowly smirked. “Jackson can’t be the other Beta, because… he’s not the one that’s in love with Allison.” She shook her head as Derek glared over at her. “Scott is.” She said and left him in pain, listening to her drive off after Scott. He panted a few times before he let out as loud and long of a howl as he could, not knowing or caring if he was completely alone. He had to warn Scott, to warn Stiles. 

Kate was coming and they had to run.


	17. Revenge

Derek was stuck where he was until Scott showed up, both a relief and an annoyance to Derek. “Stiles is in danger,” he said immediately. “And the Argents know who you are.”

“One thing at a time, man, first thing’s first, I gotta get you out of here,” Scott said as he shut the device that was electrocuting Derek off, getting him down. Derek pulled the cables off of him and Scott grimaced at the way it looked underneath, but Derek was already moving to go upstairs.

“We have to get to Stiles, and then… I don’t know just yet, we need a plan.” Derek shook his head and grabbed his phone on their way.

“Stiles is at the hospital with Lydia and Jackson, your um… your uncle bit her.”

“He  _ what? _ ” Derek turned to him and furrowed his eyebrows. “Why is she there? Is she turning? What color is her blood?”

“She’s not turning... and red? We don’t… we don’t know what’s going on with her.” Scott said and Derek nodded slowly, getting a fresh shirt on out of his duffle the hunters had strewn over the couch and locating his coat, pulling that on and putting his phone inside.

“Alright, my car’s done at the shop by now and it’s closer. We’ll break in and grab that since I already paid that off and drive the rest of the way to the hospital.” Derek led the way out the front door, heading with Scott back toward Beacon Hills now that they had some form of plan. They didn’t get very far from the front porch when Derek felt something pierce his leg and he cried out in pain as he stumbled, something else piecing his leg before he fell and a flash-grenade arrow hitting a tree above their heads. He looked down and saw a couple arrows sticking out of his leg and grit his teeth, snapping the ends off and pulling them through one by one.

He got to his feet, grabbing a half-blind Scott. “Back inside!” He shouted and shoved Scott toward the house, falling from his injuries. He hadn’t had a proper chance to heal and rest in almost a week and his body was rebelling, hard. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, trying to put pressure against at least one of the wounds.

“...only going to catch them?” Allison was asking as she stopped nearby.

“We did,” Kate answered as she walked up. “Now, we kill them.” Derek tried to get up, but felt a bullet hit him in the abdomen before he could even get an inch from where he’d been and he dropped back.

_ ‘Shit…’ _ He tried his best to stay still, his hearing seeming to focus on strange things as his body struggled to heal itself. He reached over to the bullet wound and swallowed hard before he dug his fingers into it. He didn’t know how he didn’t throw up, or scream, or pass out, but his fingers found the bullet thankfully fast and he pulled it out and threw it away. He heard Chris Argent’s voice as his hearing started to refocus and he looked over, blinking a few times and trying to catch what was going on.

“...no proof...killed anyone. This isn’t our code.” Chris said angrily, positioned in between Scott and Kate. They each had a gun trained on each other. “We hunt those who hunt us. You  _ know _ that. You  _ taught _ me that.”

“Yeah, well, I taught you a lot of things. Dad taught us a lot of things. Things that you don’t seem to remember,” Kate said with feigned patience and Chris shook his head.

“I remember, and that’s a line of shit. Is that the excuse you told yourself when you burned the Hale family alive?” Chris looked at his sister with contempt on his face. “What happened to you, Kate? What did you think you were trying to accomplish?”

“I did what I  _ had _ to do.” Kate shot back, angry.

“What you… There were  _ children _ inside, Kate!” Chris yelled, furious. “Damn it, there was a fucking two year old! What possible harm could that toddler have ever done to anyone? And do you even know if he was a human or a werewolf? Because I don’t!” Kate didn’t have the chance to answer, a low toned, but loud growl interrupting anything she could have come back with. Peter, in full Alpha form, stalked up. He looked at Chris for a moment before knocking him out of his way and grabbed Kate by the face, muffling her words and bringing her closer to the house. He shifted down to his human form, his hand sliding to her throat. He still easily got her to the front door where he held her against it by her throat, her hands scrabbling at his arm.

“Say you’re sorry.” Peter growled at her.

“So...rry.” Kate gasped, barely able to inhale. Peter tilted his head at her slightly.

“How unconvincing.” Peter shifted and used his claws to rip out her throat, digging his fingers deep and making absolutely sure that she was dead before she hit the porch. He picked her up by her arm and flung her out into the yard like a ragdoll, shifting back into his full Alpha form as he stepped down. He looked back at the house for a moment before he lets loose a long howl. Derek swallowed, as he carefully got to his feet. Their family was avenged, everyone involved with the fire was dead. Now, the only person left to kill was Peter.

Derek looked over when he saw headlights, the sound of his uncle’s howl covering up the sound of someone driving up. Derek knew the sound of Stiles’ Jeep by now and he looked over at Scott and tilted his head briefly at his uncle, getting a nod. Derek shifted along with Scott and after a few seconds they leapt at him, Scott getting a bite into Peter’s arm and a claw into his ribs before being thrown off. Peter ran at him a bit slower, getting backhanded immediately and knocked away. By then, Stiles and Jackson had parked and gotten out and Stiles looked over at Derek before glaring at Peter.

“Yo, fuckstick!” Stiles yelled and threw something at him. Peter caught it and Stiles swallowed. “Crap.” Chris, having set this up with Stiles and Jackson ahead of time, raised his gun and shot the jar that Peter held. The clear contents erupted and splashed over Peter, covering nearly half of him in flames. Derek’s eyes widened and he watched as his uncle tried to put himself out, only spreading the flames, dropping to his knees and just… falling. He got back to his feet as everyone seemed to celebrate, watching and waiting for the flames to die out, stepping closer until he was standing over him.

“Hey, Derek, wait,” Scott called, seeing Derek and getting his attention. “I need to. The cure, remember? I have to be the one to do it.” Derek looked back down at his uncle, a grin spreading across Peter’s half-charred face before he coughed.

“You can’t let him try, can you?” Peter asked. “You’ve got… your own vendetta.” Derek didn’t answer and Peter just laughed before coughing more, shaking his head. “Well, do it then… for her.” Peter seemed completely resigned to it and Derek nodded, shifting out his claws and slashing them quick and hard against his uncle’s throat. His eyes went dead, the feeling of taking the power of an Alpha away from his uncle hitting him with a rush.

“No!” Scott yelled. Derek closed his eyes as he felt the pain of the bond breaking being joined with a surge of energy, like an adrenaline rush being cranked up to a hundred. His wounds that were still aching stopped after a few seconds and he glanced down at his stomach to see it was perfectly fine, swallowing. He turned away from his uncle and slowly walked back up toward the house, everyone quiet, all eyes on him until Scott erupted. 

“How dare you!” Scott yelled and Chris and Stiles moved to hold him back, but they weren’t fast or strong enough and Scott pushed Derek, making him stumble because he didn’t bother trying to stop him. Derek turned to face him, tears in his eyes and Scott faltered in his rage. “That was my chance.” Scott said in a much softer tone and Derek lowered his gaze.

“He killed Laura…” Derek said simply as he looked back up at Scott a few moments later. It was the only answer he could give, and the truth, the reason why he’d done it. He looked over at Chris. “Take your family and go, you can return for the body whenever you’re ready, but  _ only  _ you. Thank you for defending Scott, for letting my uncle finish this, for saying what you did about her actions. Never set foot on my property again.” Chris nodded, stepping over to Allison and putting his hand on her shoulder. She jumped hard, looking up at him before letting him guide her to his SUV.

Jackson looked over at Derek and opened his mouth and Derek fixed his gaze on him with a glare. “If you ask or threaten me to turn you into a werewolf right now, or ever again, Jackson? I will eat you alive, starting with your face.” Derek let his eyes shift red as he spoke and Jackson nodded as his own eyes widened, heading to get back into Stiles’ Jeep without an argument. Stiles jogged over to him as he reached the porch stairs and Derek hesitated in going up them as he let his eyes shift back to normal, unsure of how Stiles felt about him after everything that had happened since the hospital, especially taking Scott’s possible cure away from him.

“Stiles, I-” Derek started, but Stiles didn’t stop once he’d gotten close, putting his arms around Derek’s shoulders and burying his face against him. Derek had to take a step back to stay standing from the force Stiles hugged him, letting out a surprised huff of air.

“Just f-fucking hold me, okay?” Stiles asked and Derek squeezed his eyes shut after a moment, sliding his arms around Stiles’ waist and holding him. He nuzzled against his shoulder and to that place on his neck just below his ear where his scent was. “I thought we’d lost each other.”

“Me too,” Derek whispered, pulling away enough to rest their foreheads together, but not let go of Stiles. “Take Jackson home. Go to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”

“The hospital?”

“Lydia.” Derek said softly and Stiles nodded slowly. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but… maybe if I see her. Scott’s technically my beta now. Whatever Lydia would have been to my uncle, she’s going to be to me.”

“I get it, I just… does it have to be tonight?” Stiles closed his eyes for a moment. “Its been days and I didn’t… y-your uncle... you were-” He inhaled sharply and pressed his face against Derek’s chest to muffle a sob. Derek furrowed his eyebrows more, wondering just what the fuck he’d missed, looking up when he heard a soft throat clear, seeing Scott.

“Chris is going to take me back home Do you want us to take Jackson?” Scott asked and Derek nodded. Scott looked at Stiles for a moment before he waved to Jackson in the Jeep and pointed towards the Argent’s SUV. Jackson furrowed his brow in confusion, but after looking at Derek and Stiles he nodded slowly and got out, following over and getting in with Scott in the back before they left. 

Derek held Stiles as he cried, clutching onto him tightly. He hated that everything had led to this moment for Stiles, but it was over, at least for now. They had a chance to breathe. He kissed the top of Stiles’ head and guided him to sit at the top of the porch steps with him, Stiles’ legs both draped over his and curled against his chest. He rocked Stiles gently, the only thing he could think of as he kept his breathing as calm as he could, face pressed against Stiles’ head as he waited it out with him.

After a while and Stiles finally calmed in his arms, Derek picked him up and brought him over to his Jeep, putting him into the back. He spent an hour prying up the floorboards in the living room and moving his uncle’s body into it, putting them back taking another twenty minutes. After that he moved them back, putting the coach over it and going back out to Stiles’ Jeep. He checked for where the keys were, seeing them still in the ignition and getting into the driver’s seat. He drove Stiles home, cursing when the sheriff pulled in right behind them not even ten seconds later. 

“Uh… Stiles.” Derek said and looked back, grabbing Stiles’ shoulder and gently shaking him. “Stiles, wake up.

“Hmmm… five more minutes,” Stiles mumbled.

“Stiles, your dad just pulled in behind us.” Derek said and Stiles’ eyes opened immediately before he sat up and looked back, seeing his dad getting out of his cruiser and raising his eyebrows at Stiles.


	18. Yes

“Motherfucker,” Stiles said after he’d bowed his head. “I’m dead, I’m _ so _ fucking dead. You’re in my Jeep and you’re driving, and you’re a werewolf, and I’m underage, and he’s gonna find out, and he’s going to strangle me, and shoot you, and bury us in the backyard, and that’ll be it, because he’s the sheriff. End of Stiles, that’s all she wrote, we’re doo-”

“Stiles?” John asked with a very confused expression on his face when he got to the window of the Jeep, looking into the back at his son. Stiles slowly raised his head and looked over at his dad, his face beet red.

“Hey, dad.” Stiles said as he waved awkwardly at his dad. Derek looked over at John giving him a small smile.

“Hey, John.”

“Derek,” John said slowly, still clearly confused. “I didn’t know you and my son knew each other.” Derek didn’t miss the fact that John’s hand went towards his gun a little, hands resting on his hips. “Everything alright with you two? My shift is almost over, I came home to check on you.” He said and directed the last bit at Stiles.

“Uh… y-yeah, everything’s fine. I was out with Derek and Scott, but I fell asleep hanging out at Derek’s place so, it looks like he drove me home.” Stiles lied flawlessly.

“And where have you been staying, Derek? Not your old house, still?” John asked, furrowing his brow and Derek took a breath There was quite possibly a body still at his house. John couldn’t go back there and look. _ Fuck. _

“I’ve been staying at a friend’s house, but they just finished moving out. Tonight was our last night there, so after I dropped Stiles off here, I was going to get a cab and go to a hotel.” Derek lied, and John nodded slowly, looking between the two of them. Derek could tell he didn’t like something about what they said, but Derek wasn’t sure what. “I heard from Stiles that Lydia got attacked, do you know what did it?” He asked, trying to divert his attention.

“Some sort of animal, big, girl’s been going in and out of shock for a while. We haven’t been able to really find much yet, which is unfortunate. Something like that, that close to the city…”

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll be lucky and this is a one time thing.” Derek said, knowing that with his uncle gone, there wouldn’t be any more ‘animal attacks’ in Beacon Hills for a long time. John nodded, giving Derek a soft smile for a moment.

“I hope you’re right,” John said and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, Stiles, you should get to sleep. Derek, do you need a ride? You could be my last errand before I clock out for the night. Put down as public service.” Derek laughed, shaking his head. 

“No, I’ll be alright, but thank you. I have to go inside for a minute anyway and borrow your bathroom and Stiles and I were going to start working out a schedule for me to come over and start tutoring him.” Derek said and John raised his eyebrows.

“Tutoring him?”

“Yeah, in Spanish.” Derek nodded giving John a small smile. “That’s why we started hanging out. He wants to learn and who better to learn from than someone who’s half Mexican.”

“Hard to argue with that,” John agreed, looking back at Stiles for a moment. “Well, goodnight then… Night, Stiles.”

“Night, dad!” Stiles called as his dad walked off, watching him for a moment before leaning forward and resting his head against Derek’s arm. “Oh my fucking God, that was so close.” Derek turned his head to look at him, reaching over and running his hand over his buzzed hair. “You’re a genius by the way, the whole Spanish thing.”

“What makes you think I’m not going to make you learn Spanish?” Derek asked and Stiles lifted his head, seeing Derek was grinning. Stiles laughed and leaned over, kissing him for a moment. “Was that a ‘yes, I’ll learn Spanish’ kiss or a ‘get out and shut up’ kiss?” He asked as he pulled away from Stiles so he could get out anyway, stepping out of Stiles’ way as he climbed out of the back and out of the Jeep, bouncing slightly once he was on his feet.

“Both?” Stiles smiled and accepted his keys back from Derek, raising his eyebrows. Derek rolled his eyes, following Stiles over to the front door. “Does it feel weird going through the front door instead of my window? ‘Cause it feels weird letting you in through the front door instead of my window.”

“I mean, I can go around and climb up…” Derek said and Stiles looked over his shoulder at him. “I’m kidding, Stiles.” He laughed, shaking his head as they went inside.

“I don’t know, sometimes I can’t tell with you!” Stiles wiped at his face, yawning a little and going into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of water and coming back out before taking Derek’s hand and leading him upstairs. Derek stripped down to his boxers, sitting on the edge of Stiles’ bed and watching him grab pajamas and come back over. He tossed his jacket over onto his computer chair, Derek standing up and stilling his hands as he reached to take off his shirt. “What? Something wrong?”

“No,” Derek shook his head, leaning forward and kissing him. Stiles’ eyebrows raised, letting go of his shirt and moving his hands to rest on Derek’s arms. Derek pulled away, breaking the kiss and taking the bottom of Stiles’ shirt in his hands and lifting it, Stiles raising his arms to help him. “We never had that talk that I wanted.” He said softly, his eyes looking over Stiles’ chest before going up to his face. Stiles was staring at him, his lips parted and a bit of a dazed expression on his face for a moment.

“I uh… get the feeling it was less of a conversation and more of a bed thing.” Stiles swallowed and raised his eyebrows. Derek snorted, shaking his head.

“Also no,” Derek said as he unfastened Stiles’ belt, slowly pulling it free. “This is something else, but part of that… We’ve been… basically together since we really became pack. I wanted to make it official.” He tossed Stiles’ belt off to the side and Stiles looked over at it before looking back at Derek.

“Derek Hale, are you asking me to be your boyfriend?” Stiles slowly grinned. Derek sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Yes, Stiles, I’m asking you to be my boyfriend,” Derek said. Stiles cupped Derek’s face in his hands and kissed him hard, overjoyed. Derek laughed into the kiss, resting his hands on Stiles’ hips and backstepping toward the bed until the backs of his knees hit it and he could sit down, breaking the kiss. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Duh,” Stiles half-rolled his eyes and Derek smirked, shaking his head and moving his hands to get Stiles out of his jeans. “So… are we going to-”

“No.”

“Aw, come on,” Stiles whined and Derek looked up at him, helping him step out of them before pulling Stiles onto his lap. Stiles straddled his hips and rested his hands on his shoulders, pouting. “I mean, you undress me, you pull me onto your lap, you ask me to date you and we’re not going to de-virginate me?”

“As attractive as you make it sound, when you put it that way, I want it to be special. We haven’t even gone on a date yet.” Derek said softly. Stiles raised his eyebrows at that.

“Oh my God, you want to… you actually want to _ take _ me places? Isn’t that dangerous?” Stiles furrowed his eyebrows a little as he asked his second question, his excitement mixing with his confusion.

“It will be, but not right now. Don’t think about it. We have some breathing room, I want to use it.” Derek said and he could tell that Stiles was doing his best to, but he was focusing very much on whatever danger Derek had referred to. Derek closed his eyes, sighing softly as he leaned forward and rested his forehead against Stiles’ chest. “Do I need to anchor you?”

“Is that the breathing thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe.” Stiles said softly. Derek nodded and patted Stiles’ leg, getting him to move off of him. Stiles went over to his dresser and opened his drawer to get a pair of pajamas out, but he closed it instead, going back over and just getting into bed with Derek. Derek had Stiles lay with his back to his chest this time, holding Stiles’ hands in his and wrapping his arms around him and curling up against him, kissing the back of his neck and his shoulder. After a while, Stiles brought their right arms up, looking at Derek’s hand covering his. Derek nuzzled the back of Stiles’ neck a little before looking at their hands too, stretching his fingers out and layering them between Stiles’.

“Peter offered me the Bite.” Stiles said quietly. “Today, he came to me trying to find you and I didn’t want to help him. I knew that… I knew that whatever you were doing with him, you went into it to protect me, but the stuff you were doing while you were with him, it wasn’t like you. But he came to me and after I helped him find you he told me that I should be rewarded, basically, and he offered to turn me.” Derek was quiet, smelling the frustration and the fear coming off of Stiles, as well as his bitterness and his confusion.

“You told him no.” Derek said after a couple minutes of Stiles not saying anything.

“I wanted to say yes.” Stiles let go of Derek’s other hand and turned in his arms so he could look at him. Stiles closed his eyes for a few moments, looking ashamed and guilty. “I’ve been… honestly, kind of jealous of Scott and I know its stupid, I really fucking do, but who doesn’t want to be the badass werewolf, right? And I say no, because its _ Peter _ and because… well, because of my dad.” Derek furrowed his eyebrows a little at that. “Well, he said it doesn’t always take. That as easily as it could turn me, it could kill me and I thought, what the fuck would happen to my dad if I’m gone, y’know? He’d be a wreck.”

Stiles shook his head and lowered his gaze. “We already lost my mom when I was a kid and… it nearly tore the guy apart. If he lost me, I don’t… I don’t want to know.” Derek nodded, tilting Siles’ face toward his and kissing him gently.

“You’re mine. That’s all I care about.” He said softly. Stiles looked at him and smiled, resting their foreheads together after a moment.

“Fuck yeah, I’m yours,” Stiles agreed. “And you’re mine?”

“Yes.” Derek smiled back, leaning in and kissing him again. "All yours."


End file.
